The Fear Of Blood
by MuffinxXxSyndrome
Summary: [PL-4] Meia Arisawa had always known she was different, but when a series of unfortunate events occur, more than just doubt in herself takes it's toll when she is hunted down relentlessly. HieixOC Three Quarters of story is complete
1. The Fear Of Blood

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh]-**_

_**CHAPTER ONE: Fear Of The Blood**_

"The fear of blood tends to create fear of the flesh." That quote stuck out as something meaningful to me when I first read it. I couldn't understand why it didn't seem to mean anything to the people that I knew, and thinking back on it, I could understand why. Not being plagued by memories, not having seen the horrors that human kind could plunge into. And why should they know? The thought of even knowing the tiniest hints of what their own people, their own kin could do under the right circumstances would just tear them apart. I didn't know that at the time, but now I know that all too well. It wasn't even a physical revelation, just watching how peoples minds warped and twisted was a horror on it's own when one knew what to look for.

"The fear of blood tends to create fear of the flesh." It was written on the back of a video game I picked up in a small store in the main town of Karakura 100 miles from where I was living at the time. The game was of something that I had never played before, of something that had never gained my interest, or even ocured to me that was available. It was very much back dated at the time that I had picked it up off the shelf. The store that I had picked it up from was a used items store, containing second-hand furniture, clothes, cd's, and even video games. I had never really looked around in the store before that day, I always had other things to do, like meet up with a friend at the cinema on the other side of the shopping district, or I had to get some shopping done before I could focus on anything else. That day, was the day that all of my plans had crumbled to nothing, leaving me stranded in the town of Karakura for a total of ten hours.

The game had an authentic feel to it, the woman at the counter told me that they never been donated games of the like before. I could tell when she saw me pick it up that she didn't like me, and I could sort of understand why, for a girl of about 15 to pick up a game which was clearly a psychological horror over a game like 'Legend of Zelda' was something to be wary about. There was nothing about it that piqued my interest when I first looked at it, I was the type to pick something up if I felt something draw me to it. I then looked at the back cover and read the quote. That alone was what brought me to buy it, and that alone was what brought me to this phase of mind. And it was the fact of the woman looking at me in near horror that highlighted one fact that I had overlooked until that day - I was different.

I had shown the game to some of my friends, and all of whom had just laughed and told me that the quote was a scene-setter for the game. True, I knew that all too well, but it was something that clicked in me. I had a feeling that I didn't belong from the very beginning, when they would all start going out and buying clothes to show themselves off, I often went and read a book if I wasn't dragged with them, and when they went to parties, I often went to the park and wrote stories, something, anything to keep my mind off of that gaping hole that was the difference between the people I knew, and myself.

It was amazing to think about it, how when something goes wrong, that it can all turn into one hellish mess. And when I thought about it, it was exactly as everyone thought it not to be. The fear of blood tends to create fear of the flesh, it sounds just like the truth; If someone gets hurt, then they start fearing becoming hurt. And when they become hurt, they start fearing the cause of the hurt, where it's derived from. To think about things in that manner, it changed a lot of my perceptions. It was increasingly important to block out that gaping hole, to hide it from my consciousness, to fool myself into thinking that it was never there in the first place. It worked, if only for a little while.

I was sure at the time that I would have fooled myself, sooner or later, that the gaping chasm between myself and the reality that I knew was non-existent, that the quote that I had grown so knit to was nothing more than a scene-setter, but rather like all things, that had to fall.

I watched as the world I had was destroyed around me, and I could only find myself in one trap of intertwined intentions and outcomes. My original outlook on my problems was to look after myself, to ensure that I was within my mental sanity, but that was vastly different when I met the people that changed my life, made my life feel more, complete, like I had belonged at long last, and it was the one thing I had truly wanted since the start of my conscious life. Then came the next; to ensure the life of those that had made the last of my life fulfilled to a certain extent, it didn't matter any longer that I remained within sanity. Then came the third; To ensure the life of those that had changed me, it required the exchange of the one thing that I had initially sworn to myself that I would not forsake - it required the fee of handing over my own life.

In hindsight, I had done the right thing in sacrificing myself to ensure the wellbeing of those I hold dear, after such a long time watching the people around me tear themselves apart, turn themselves into monsters, I had been taken into a world where it was just as hard, but on me physically, my emotions were kept intact, and I felt truly at peace.

It was as I lay cold and unmoving under the chrystalis tree in the underground that was to be my grave, I had stumbled upon the real answer to why I found that string of words so meaningful to me. As I felt the last of my cold blood leave my body from the corner of my mouth, I closed my eyes to the answer; I feared the pain of who I held most dear, and in fearing that, I made myself fear the one that would cause my most dear the pain. That fear manifested itself into the fear of losing everything, and then, it brought upon 'my' demise. Not quite so close knit to what I had been believing, but I had known deep down inside of myself, that I was going to die, and that string of words voiced my mind perfectly; The fear of blood tends to create fear of the flesh: To fear a worse pain, to bring a worse fate than what was played out in front of one.

In spite of myself, I smile as I thought, seeing one last image of the one whom I hold most dear in my mind as my whole self fades to black.


	2. Do You Believe In Coincidence?

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWO: Do You Believe In Coincidence?**_

I awoke with a frown across my face as the ringing of the alarm rung with a shrill cry, piercing into the pitch black of the early morning. I could almost not believe it. My dreams were plagued by the one thing that I very much doubted in my whole complete being. I was lying under a tree made out of a black Crystal substance, bleeding to death from wounds that weren't there. The thought of internal bleeding ocured, but it was a confusing element. What could cause that much internal bleeding where someone would die within ten minutes? Or at least it seemed like ten minutes. And why would I be lying under a tree I've not seen before, with a smile across my face, as if I was HAPPY I was going to die?! I felt pure irritation hit me as the shrill screaming of the alarm clock continued to invade my thinking space, causing me to immediately slam my clenched fist to the top of it. I looked at the alarm clock as it hissed loudly, groaning as I saw I had almost literally broke it in half.

_Damn, another bloody alarm I have to buy._ I thought bitterly, taking my fist away, then proceeding to folding my arms back behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. I had been having that dream on and off for a few years, since I was fifteen if I had to pin a time to it. It was exactly the same almost every time I had the dream, the exact same Crystal tree, the exact same god damn happy yet sad look across my face, and the exact same way I was lying on the ground. There was one small, yet irritating factor about the dream that changed though. It wouldn't be so irritating if it was the 'exact' same dream over and over again, many people had dreams like drowning, or flying over and over again for tens of years. But what was so wrong about this dream, was that every time I would have it, the way I was dying was different! I knew the first time I had the dream, I had a heart attack, it felt so real, yet when I woke up, there was no pain, only perspiration over my whole body. That first time I had the dream, I was shot with a gun three times. The second time I had the dream, which was four weeks later, I had a snapped neck, and then the third a year later, I had my throat slit. So far this dream this morning was number eighteen. You can imagine why this is purely infuriating. How many ways can someone die?! I cursed at a stray thought: My subconscious self - metaphorically speaking - was trying to decide the way that I was going to die.

_No, no, no! That can't be right!_ I thought angrily, hands gripping at the pillow beneath my arms and throwing it at the window directly in front of me. I sighed as I heard the curtains swing wildly from the passing pillow, reluctantly dragging myself out of bed as I felt the need to move - There was something in this day, I was sure I was getting myself heated over a misinterpretation of words. We had been assigned to work on an essay about the meanings behind video games and their effects on society. The lecturers of the College I was studying at were believing I was a suicidal woman on the verge of my sanity. I begrudgingly wear the tag of woman, being 20 I felt no different, of course, and I looked much younger than I was, but in other peoples points of view, I had to 'acknowledge' the fact that I was a woman, according to them. I had refused to do the assignment for the lecturer, but he had demanded me to complete it, and due to my objection, then refusal, I had to hand it in the very next day, which so happened to be yesterday. I grabbed my towel from the chair at the table in the tiny room I was in, beginning to leave for the shower as I saw the first rays of light beginning to creep in over the horizon.

The shower was ice cold as I turned it on, sending goosebumps running through me as the sudden splash back of the water first hitting the floor with one force, causing me to close the sliding door as I began to strip. I lived alone, so there was no worrying about who was going to suddenly walk into the bathroom, there was no worrying over anyone seeing anything, and I almost couldn't even remember the last time I felt the need to be around someone. I was naturally kin to loneliness, or rather, the act that evokes the emotion loneliness. I was always alone, in my own frame of mind, and that was the way that I worked. I turned the hot water on just a little to take away the bite of the cold water, then stepped into the jet of cool water. It was as if I was the only person of my traits on this planet, on this world. I felt both happy, yet frustrated about it, happy for the fact that I was individual, and frustrated for the fact that I could not understand anyone that I spoke to. It was more along the lines of what drove people to do what they do. I understood the mechanisms of a lot of things, a lot of actions and a lot of desires, I read a lot, but to me, a lot of those desires just brought out the main factor of my isolation; I was too different, too - as the lecturers that knew me had said - peculiar, for the lack of legal ability to say a more intense word.

I sighed as I stepped out of the shower, shutting off the water without any thought what so ever. I grabbed the towel on the rail next to the sink after a few moments, then wrapped the towel around my middle tightly. There was no need to wipe away condensation on the mirror as I looked at it, the plus side to cold showers, there's no horrid humidity left in the air, even if there is a running fan, and the mirrors don't fog up. I tucked the corner of the towel in between the towel and my skin, and took to looking at my reflection in the mirror. There was nothing alarming, or rather disturbing about my reflection, as one might have thought about my train of thought. I saw a pair of turquoise eyes staring back at me brightly from a very pale face. The skin of my reflection was almost as white as one could get, though I definitely was not albino, and I spent more time in the sun than many other people I knew. I saw a couple of scars running down just below my jawline, one closer to the jugular than the other, frowning slightly as it highlighted the roundness in my face. My hair framed my face very lightly, despite the fact that I had just washed it, my bangs were coming down over my face, naturally separating from the main of my hair. My hair reached down to my feet, though I always wore it up in a high bun, my hair was highlighted a dark misty blue, and it was natural - I had tried dying it black, I am reluctant to say. I straightened up in front of the mirror, staring down at my petite body with a frown as I began to contemplate what I was going to wear. I was incredibly short, and my young-looking features somehow made peoples minds believe I was a fair few years younger than I really was. Most people believed me to be of the age of eighteen, and some even believed me sixteen. I could only speculate that their minds were faulty.

I frowned as I stepped away from the mirror, getting half dressed in a black tank top, undergarments and mini shorts, then seeing as I went to grab the over shirt, that i had forgotten to grab it. I frowned, and began to head back to my bedroom when suddenly I saw something small and furry in the walkway, immediately throwing my foot back and trying to step back as I almost stepped on it. It was a white little kitten, and it mewled at me as my foot touched the floor behind me. I suddenly felt myself beginning to fall backwards, immediately putting weight into my back foot to stop myself from falling any further, then my foot slipped from the water over the tiled floor. I fell faster than I should have, or rather, the shock of the whole kitten in the house had stolen my mental thinking space, until I felt the back of my head collide with the white tiled floor of the bathroom, and felt my ankle shatter and break from the twisting, feeling the break continue and break my leg as well. Only one thing ran through my mind as I felt the white kitten leap up onto my chest, seeing it tough it's nose to my cheek as it began to purr, rather ironically I believed it was consciously aware of my pain. The pain was very bad, I could feel my whole body shaking from the pain, but I was a strange one, I was one to almost suffocate myself with holding my breath instead of screaming in pain. After a few moments, I felt the pain begin to fade, as well as my consciousness.

"Damn you, Kuwabara." I whispered, cringing as I felt the kitten make itself comfortable. I closed my eyes as I felt my eyelids grow heavy, feeling nausea begin to kick in as my mind blanked out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Arizuya!" A ginger-haired man called in a hoarse voice in the corridor of the fourteenth floor in the apartment building he lived in. "Damn it, he's not coming out!" He said, looking at the other person in the corridor with him. They were both 20 years old, the ginger haired one was tall and wore blue, while the other was shorter, with black hair slicked back and brown eyes. He was wearing a normal pair of jeans and jumper, watching the ventilation shaft that the little white kitten had suddenly dashed into as it leapt from the ginger man's arms.

"Damn it, Kuwabara, didn't Riku tell you to keep him in his cage unless he was in a locked room?" The black haired one asked, the ginger haired man called Kuwabara looking at him immediately. "You should have just left the kitten in the cage for half an hour rather than dragging him around with you everywhere you go."

"It's not my fault! You heard him crying as we left!" Kuwabara said in his defense, the black haired one looking at the door.

"So are we going to sit here all day and sweet talk the little bastard into coming back out, or are we going to go inside and grab him before what's her name wakes up?"

"Her name's Meia, Urameshi." Kuwabara said, looking back at the open ventilation shaft.

"What? So she goes around telling everyone to call her Meia?" The black haired one asked, then adopted a slightly sarcastic expression. "Hey, nice to meet you Meia, name's Yusuke, sorry I've never met you before deciding to break into your apartment to retrieve the cat that my bone-headed friend lost, but hey, since we're here, why not be friends!" He said, but neither of them were laughing. "I've never even met her and I can already picture flying cutlery sets. Let's go in before it's too late?"

"Yeah. He's not coming back through the vents." Kuwabara said, getting to his feet. The one called Yusuke grabbed the door handle and opened the door, feeling somewhat surprised as the door opened without objection. "Okay, she might actually be awake." Kuwabara said, Yusuke frowning fractionally as he peered around the oddly tidy apartment.

"I don't see anyone." Yusuke said in a hushed voice, then the two of them smirked momentarily as they caught ear of purring.

"I can hear him now." Kuwabara whispered, following Yusuke towards the source of the purring. They discovered that the purring was coming from the bathroom, then they both came to a halt as they saw what they had found.

"Oh hell." Yusuke said as the two of them stared down at both the white kitten called Arizuya, and the girl that was lying on the floor unconscious, blood on the tiles around her head and her right leg was coloured a dark shade of bruising from toe to the very bottom of her knee. Kuwabara stepped past Yusuke after a moment, Yusuke looking at Kuwabara as he crouched down next to the girl and checked her breathing quickly.

"Damn it, of all the bloody things--" Kuwabara began to curse as he pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket, dialing a number before pressing it to his ear.

"There's no way she slipped just by walking with her foot like that." Yusuke said, seeing Kuwabara nod once in agreement as he glared at the purring kitten on top of Meia's chest.

"Your fault!" Kuwabara hissed at the kitten, but it continued purring, resting it's head on it's paws as it laid down.

"No, your fault! You just had to bring him with you!" Yusuke said, seeing a sour look cross Kuwabara's face - he knew his friend would have immediately tried to defend himself at any other time, but this was no time for arguments. "Kuwabara ..." Yusuke said several moments later, his gaze flicking to the girl on the bathroom floor. There was something off here.

"Your right, but we can't do anything about it." Kuwabara said, Yusuke looking at him momentarily from the girl.


	3. The Chorus Of Unfamiliar Circumstances

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh]-**_

_**CHAPTER THREE: The Chorus Of Unfamiliar Circumstances**_

I stared down at the ground just next to my head as I felt myself dying, feeling the same sad smile across my face that I only ever had when I had that dream. I couldn't quite understand it, not at all, I was unsure, I had to of zoned out, right? I had slipped backwards and cracked my head. I should have only just blacked out. And yet, I could tell that it was the same dream, the very same irritating dream that haunted me. Make this number Nineteen, and from a proper pain check as I moved my dream self slightly, then felt pure confusion cross my whole entire being as I felt that something was very, very wrong, it wasn't a simple gun shot wound anymore, it wasn't a snapped neck and I was suffocating. No, this one was worse. It was as if someone had tried to take a hacksaw to my limbs, my arm was very nearly severed, and I could feel that they had decided to try and take it to my legs. There was a slice straight through my side, as if they had tried to cut me in half, but didn't succeed, and I could feel a lot of blood gushing from my body, a lot of blood gushing from my lips as I remained motionless - it was too painful to breathe.

What in god's name was this?! I wondered in pure horror as I stared out at the dark. What the hell was this twisted dream that I was having?! It was as if I had lost my mind, waiting for death to take me! I had no need for death, I didn't want to die, but I wasn't afraid of it. I felt my dream self closed her eyes and smiled the same sad smile. No, I don't want to smile! For got sakes stop smiling because you're going to die! She yelled at herself in her head. What the hell is so great about dying!? What the hell makes it 'alright'?! It was a useless endeavor, I was just in a state where my mind was my own, my thinking patterns were the same, but absolutely everything else was the dreams. That piece of information never changed, never became any more or less, and yet I wanted to scream. The dream ended as normal, as the last of my life faded, but god damn it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

A gasp of pain slipped from my lips as I felt agony. I could feel a lot of pain in the back of my head, and the lower half of my body was stiff, somehow unable to move. I tried to move, only to feel no change whatsoever, then I heard and felt something in my leg crunch. I gasped as I threw myself upright, holding my breath as the pain seared fresh in my body. And then I felt something grab me by the shoulders. This couldn't be the dream, I couldn't be dreaming, not anymore! Panic began to overcome me as I found that I was the one moving, which made it clear, this was not a dream, and the pain was real.

"Call Koenma!" Came a voice I didn't recognise, but I could recognise the underlying panic in the tone. I tried to move, to get out of their grip, but the pain was intense, and every time I moved a fraction, the pain flared up quadruple. I felt the grip on my shoulders remain tight, forcing myself to open my eyes as I felt the pain in my leg grow more intense.

"Careful!" Came the voice I didn't recognise, then I felt a pressure suddenly clamp down against my thigh of the leg that I had shattered the ankle of, forcing my limb still against my will, and I felt a force push me back down to the tiled floor. I closed my eyes tight as the pain seared worse than what it actually was, feeling tears beginning to stream down my face. I wanted to check what was going on, all I could feel was pain and i didn't know what was going on. There were 'people' around, and rather than that, there was more pain than there should be.

"Meia! Stop trying to look at your leg! You're going to do yourself more damage by thrashing around like that!" Came a sudden yelling, but that of a voice I did recognise. I opened my eyes shakily, seeing the face of the one person that didn't make me feel any better; Kuwabara, who clearly had hold of my shoulders, since he looked to be leaning over me upside down. "Listen to me, we're going to be taking you out of here to fix your injuries, this is very important." I heard him say. I shook my head out of petulance, hearing him exhale deeply. "Do it." I heard him say as I closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry, this is going to hurt." I heard the new voice say in an apologetic tone, then I gasped as I felt that crunch in my leg again. I couldn't manage to stifle the sob that escaped my lips, feeling the grip on my shoulders lessen as I only flinched as I felt a lot of pressure begin to wrap itself around my leg.

"She's amazing, I didn't hear her scream once all through that." Came another voice, but I vaguely recognised that one.

"She can definitely take a lot of pain." Came the first voice as I felt bile rise in the back of my throat.

"I was expecting burst ear drums when I saw her wake up." I heard the vaguely familiar voice say, then there was silence for a few moments as I felt an inkling of more pain, but this was not related to my leg. My head was throbbing with pain, and I couldn't see very well, everything turned to shimmers and it just hurt. "You're doing her arm now?" I opened my eyes immediately. I hadn't felt anything in my arm, I knew for a fact I had never done damage to my arms or my other leg, I was certain. I managed to look at my arm as I suddenly felt pain in it, horror taking over me completely as I saw the last thing I had expected to see - the injury, looked as if someone had tried to amputate my very arm half way between the shoulder and the elbow. The injury was exactly the same, in almost every possible way, only, it shouldn't be in this time, I knew that, I knew I shouldn't have even known about it, and yet, there it was.

"She seems to know what that is from ..." I heard the apologetic voice say, then I felt them suddenly hold me down as I felt the panic I was feeling spill across my face. I tried to get out of their grip, but I felt them force me straight back down on the tiled floor. I tried to move again, but I couldn't, they were much too strong for me, but that didn't stop me from trying.

"Kurama, calm her down! She won't listen to me!" I heard Kuwabara say quickly, feeling the momentary release of my shoulders and leg, feeling another grip grab me by the shoulders, but this one was strangely more comforting, but I flinched as I felt my leg suddenly snap back to the floor.

"Miss Meia, please calm down." I heard the apologetic voice say, looking up weakly to see the face of a red-haired male, appearing to be 21, or so I guessed in my pathetic state. I could see he was in the same college as myself, though I had never seen him consciously, his long red hair held back by something green as his emerald eyes stared into mine. "We are trying to help you, I know it hurts, but you have got to try and remain as still as possible." I could almost feel my body forcing itself to heed his words, despite 'my' wishes. "We also don't quite know what's happening to you, but there are people arranging to have you taken in to have your injuries taken care of, and they will be trying to figure this out. We do know that your body did this to your arm the moment we went to splint your leg."

"Great." I managed to whisper, closing my eyes tight as I felt someone beginning to bind my arm, but I didn't see anything of them. "My own body is mad at me for not stepping on that bloody cat."

"I doubt that's the case, but we don't know anything else." I heard him say. I flinched as I felt pain flare in my arm again. I heard a slight sound echo, feeling a breeze suddenly hit me in the face. From what I felt of his grip, the one called Kurama looked back at what was now there. "We can go now." I heard him say after a moment, then I felt the three places of pressure leave. "This will hurt." I heard Kurama say, then I gasped in pain as I was suddenly picked up off the floor by a grip under my knees and the base of my shoulders, feeling my leg flare in pain. I began to wonder if it had spread to half way up my leg. I felt only slight touches of pain as I felt as if I was being taken through a layer of turbulent air, then I felt my consciousness leave me as I heard someone come over at a run.


	4. The Beginnings Of Introductions, And

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOUR: The Beginnings Of Introductions, And, The Beginning Of Confusion**_

We remain in a world where everything is determined by the actions that we take, for if we were not to take those actions, we would be trapped in the world that was given to us, for the weak, a life wrought of pain and agony, for the strong, a life wrought with the pain of continuous battles. And for the misunderstood, the pain and agony in being alone in the world. For these untold horrors that we believe never to occur, our actions depict exactly how the horror occurred, the manner in which it affected others, and the toll that it takes on the heart. I had accepted such things, but not to such an intensity.

----------------------------------------------------

I slowly opened my eyes, my blurry gaze revealing nothing more than the grass of the dream. I didn't need to look to see the crystal tree above me, and there would be no point, I couldn't move. For the fear that the last dream had envoked, I had begun to dread what I was going to find next. Was my arm and legs now fully severed? And was my body now in two distinct halves? I felt my dream body slowly open her eyes, feeling then that my body was in one piece, to my relief. My dream body's gaze fell upon several cross bow bolts that were lying on the ground a couple of feet in front of her. I could see that the crossbow bolts had a green sheen to them, realising a few moments later that these had missed me, and the bolt heads were covered in a poison. I couldn't tell what sort of poison it was, all I knew was that there was now a reason to the nausea I was feeling. I felt my dream body move fractionally, feeling what had hit me. There were three crossbow bolts in my side, and one in the square of my back. There was nothing for it, it wasn't like I could do anything. At least my body hadn't almost been chopped into pieces. I didn't even feel the irritation as my dream self smiled her same sad smile and closed her eyes. I began to really hate that, though the irritation was strangely non present.

I felt like I had been hit by a train, or rather been crushed under ten tones of steel and stone. I couldn't feel any part of me that wasn't aching, that wasn't anything that was remotely 'fine'. I felt my head tilt to the right slightly as I slowly began to feel restless, hearing movement just to my left as soon as I had shifted my head.

"I think she might be waking up." Came a vaguely familiar voice, causing me to frown fractionally in annoyance as I forced my eyes to open. I looked over to see two men standing next to the side of the bed I was in, vaguely recognising them both as the red headed one from the apartment, and a friend of the Oaf Kuwabara.

"Hey!" The black haired one said, waving a hand as the red-haired one nodded slightly with a smile.

"Y-Yusuke ... Urameshi ... Kurama?" I mumbled, seeing shock cross both of their faces, then I felt caution creep into their gazes as I tried to sit up.

"I wouldn't recommend sitting up, your injuries are ... complicated." Kurama said. I looked at the two of them as I allowed myself back down reluctantly. I closed my eyes for a few moments, then looked at the two as they seemed to lean a little over her. "I am surprised you remember our names, however." Kurama said, a smile slowly creeping over his face.

"Kuwabara said she's got photographic memory." Yusuke said, Kurama smiling slightly.

"I see. So then it wouldn't surprise you if I asked if you remembered what happened?" Kurama asked. I watched him darkly before inclining my head fractionally.

"A lot of bone cracking." I stated, seeing Kurama nod slightly as Yusuke just watched me. "Clearly this is not a normal hospital, may I ask where I am?" I asked after several moments, seeing Kurama smile weakly as Yusuke glanced at the door.

"Oh course. This is a medical facility in connection with a few people that we work with." Kurama proceeded to explain, which left me watching him, but I took the odd glance at Yusuke. "We work on different types of jobs, and there are four of us at the moment on the one team. The group consists of Yusuke here, Kuwabara, Myself, and another called Hiei." I looked away for a moment, then looked back at Kurama. "At the moment, we have no work. Kuwabara and Yusuke found you in your apartment unconscious, and I was called in to help, since i live a few blocks away." I glanced at my left arm momentarily, seeing through the light gown that I was now wearing, that there were heavy bandages wrapped around my arm. I felt curious gazes upon me as I looked back at the two.

"So when can I leave?" I asked. I saw a little bit of shock cross Yusuke's face as Kurama merely smiled wryly.

"Not for a while, normally we would have been able to heal your injuries completely by now, but we've been very careful not to put your body under too much stress." Kurama explained, and I closed my eyes wearily.

"So what you're saying is because of my bone ailment, I'm not leaving for a while." I stated.

"Bone ailment?" Kurama repeated, prompting me to look back at him after a moment. It seemed Yusuke was content just remaining silent, although he seemed to be watching me intensely.

"I was born with problems with my bones, they sheet and break under a certain amount of force, that's why my whole leg had shattered and broken when I slipped in the bathroom, I'd guess." I explained, seeing a look of sudden understanding to cross both their faces, then discomfort in Kurama's face. I think Yusuke was more stumped that I had a fresh memory.

"Then forcing your leg back into place wouldn't have helped." He stated. I shrugged slightly.

"The last time I did anything like that was when I was seven. I don't remember much. It might not have mattered." I replied, seeing him nod slightly.

"Well, in any case, it wouldn't help to have you leave just yet." Kurama said, causing me to sigh in the back of my head. I didn't like to hear that, but I was sort of expecting it. I saw Yusuke stretch slightly where he was, causing a slight frown to cross my face as I began to think very carefully.

"I'm gonna go grab breakfast before I head back home." Yusuke said after a moment, causing me and Kurama to look at him. "Oh, did you need anything, uh—"

"Meia." I said for him, feeling a little bitter at the fact that he couldn't remember a simple name like that, especially since I was expected to trust them and remain in the hospital bed like a good little cripple, despite the fact that I had half the mind to search for some crutches and leave the building. I mean, it couldn't be too far from the apartment blocks if Kuwabara was working with these two for someone that had not been named, as far as I knew. "And no thank you." I added.

"Sure, sure, I'm off. I'll tell Pacifier Breath that she's awake now." Yusuke said, waving a hand as he began to leave the room.

"Pacifier breath?" I repeated in a tone of slight confusion, hearing Kurama laugh slightly to himself.

"It's nothing important." Kurama said, looking back to me after a few moments.

"Hey, do you know a Motoko Yamaoka? I asked after a few moments, seeing Kurama look at me in slight confusion.

"Not off hand, no." He answered, causing me to nod momentarily. I began to scan through my memory for something that the closest thing to a friend had told me, feeling him watching me for a few moments. "Why do you ask?" I heard him say, causing me to smile momentarily.

"Is Kurama your real name?" I asked, seeing a slight look of shock cross his face, then I saw him collect himself.

"Well, Kurama is a kind of, nickname that I have, my real name is Suichi Minamino."

"I thought so." I said after a moment, seeing the tiniest hint of a cautious look cross his face – I filed that reaction in the back of my mind for thought later. "I know this person that pointed you out one time." I said, seeing a slight look of understanding cross his face. "I didn't think very much on it at the time, but she called you Suichi."

"I see." He said with a smile. There was relief there. Secret? Very likely. I filed that piece of information into the back of my mind for future thought as well. I was about to say something, but then all of a sudden there was a huge crash at the wall of the room where the door was, causing me to sit bolt upright out of fright. I could feel my heart racing as I saw that the door had slammed open, and there was four colourful looking ... well, creatures was the best I could come up with, all of them yelling at the tops of their lungs in panic as they tore through the room. It took me several moments through _my _panic to see that they were carrying someone into the room, who was -screaming in pain, someone that looked to be in relations to ... a mermaid?!

"What are you doing bringing her in here?!" I heard Kurama ask vaguely, a tone of shock in his voice. I didn't even flinch as I heard the Mermaid looking being scream in pain again, then I saw the four beings begin to strap her down on the bed quickly as I could see claws beginning to lash out at their faces.

"Kurama." Came the voice of a man I hadn't heard before as I felt the snap of unconsciousness hit me, vaguely feeling someone catch me before I hit the floor, a curtain of black meeting me in return.


	5. Rude Awakening

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FIVE: Rude Awakening**_

I felt a slight pain in the side of my head as I began to become conscious, a slight wave of nausea overcoming me for some reason. I could feel that I was still in an unfamiliar bed, but I did vaguely remember falling out of one before I blacked out. I cringed slightly as I remembered what made me black out – there were some weird people in the room, and one fish? I thought on that for a few moments, beginning to wonder why I was remembering a large fish. I then realised, as I mentally depicted that it couldn't have been a real fish out of water, that I hadn't had that dream again. I felt a wave of relief hit me. That was the first dreamless sleep in four days, and it was very welcome. Now, if only the dream could eradicate itself from existence, then my life would be so much better. I couldn't hear any shrieking, or screaming in the least, that in itself was a relief. I heard footsteps after a moment, causing me to force myself to open my eyes – Only to wish that I had never done that in the first place. I felt my breathing cease as my eyes widened in horror at the face of a tall and scary looking person barely a foot away from mine, staring down at me with a goofy grin, the first god damn thing I see first thing in the morning. I felt my body suddenly snap into motion in the moment that I saw the person about to say something, throwing one punch straight to the person's jaw, hearing them suddenly yelp as they fell over backwards – a yelp that I recognised to belong to Kuwabara.

"I think she's awake." I heard another voice say, but I didn't react, my fist still clenched tightly as I tried to recover – my heart was racing a million miles an hour, that was the most horrifying thing to see! "And I think you nearly killed her." I slowly registered that the voice belonged to Yusuke, slowly looking around the room as I tried to recover my nerves.

"Man! That hurt! What was that for?!" Came Kuwabara's voice as he dragged himself to his feet, a hand to the side of his face. I managed to look at him, seeing him glaring at me, and I could hear Yusuke exhale deeply.

"Don't get mad at her, I don't blame her for reacting that way to seeing _your _ugly mug first thing in the evening." Yusuke said to Kuwabara, causing Kuwabara to look at him in shock.

"B-But – Koenma told me to keep an eye on her and make sure he knows the moment she wakes up!" Kuwabara said in his defense. This conversation was going way over my head, my heart wasn't even slowing, and my mind was jammed in overdrive. "And I was told by Kurama that she'd be panicky after that Mermaid thing!" I felt a pull at my heart as I suddenly realised what the hell that fish was – for some strange reason my mind didn't want to accept what I really saw, and I could feel more fright overcoming me as I realised that it wasn't a dream in itself and that they all knew about it.

"Kurama, the Onna is beginning to panic." Came the voice that I had heard last thing when I was conscious, and ... it somehow seemed familiar.

"She is not! She just hit me!" Kuwabara spat back, then I flinched as I saw Kurama suddenly appear next to me, leaning over the bed slightly with a cautious feel to the smile which I guessed was supposed to calm me down.

"You deserved it!" Yusuke retorted as I felt Kurama pull me upright carefully – and for some reason it began to help, that shift of vision seemed to help me, I could begin to see what exactly was going on, in the small part of the room I was in, a curtain was pulled around, closing the little cubicle of like in a normal hospital. I could only see Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama in the cubicle with me, and one silhouette that was of someone standing just on the others side of the curtain.

"OW! LET GO!" Kuwabara yelled, causing me to look shakily to see that Yusuke had Kuwabara in a head lock, Kuwabara's arms flailing around to try and get out of Yusuke's grip.

"I'm getting the bastard back for ya Meia, since you're not allowed out of bed to pulverise him yourself!" Yusuke said as he grinned at me, obviously trying to make me feel better, which it did, to a certain extent, my nerves were very slowly recovering, and my heart wasn't racing so much. I could feel that Kurama was keeping hold of my shoulder, and it didn't seem to bother me for some reason, but it would have if it were any other time, if I wasn't in an unfamiliar situation. There were a few yelps from Kuwabara, then I saw Yusuke release him, sending him falling to the floor. "Kuwabara, I suggest you go tell pacifier breath that Meia's up!" Yusuke said to Kuwabara, who was lying on the floor with his hands massaging his neck.

"Can't ... move!" Kuwabara groaned from the floor, then I flinched as I saw Yusuke kick Kuwabara's arm to get him to move – It looked like he kicked him hard, but there was no sound from Kuwabara apart from a fed up grunt a moment later. "Damn you Urameshi." Kuwabara said as he dragged himself to his feet and left the cubicle with about as much coordination as a drunken elephant.

"I'm going to wring that cat's bloody neck." I said bitterly without thinking, then flinched and put my hands over my mouth as I realised what I said, hearing Yusuke suddenly begin to laugh as Kurama looked at me in confusion for a moment.

"Blame Kuwabara instead! He's the one responsible for it!" Yusuke said with a huge grin. I narrowed my eyes on the blankets of the bed.

"That actually sounds like a good idea." I said, hearing Yusuke laugh slightly.

"In any case, Meia, you should be able to return back to your apartment in a couple of days." I heard Kurama say, causing me to look at him. "Your injuries are mostly healed, so there shouldn't be any problem in you leaving." I then looked back at my leg that I had believed to be shattered, only to see a small lump where the cast should be. I blinked, leaning forward and carefully pulling the blankets back, seeing that it was a small cast that I was definitely wearing, which was only ever suitable for singular breaks, not a whole entire shattered leg or ankle.

"Great, Motoko can't go completely nuts now." I said, a smile creeping across my face as I pulled the blankets back over my leg.

"Yamaoka?" I heard Kurama ask, causing me to look at him, my eyes narrowing slightly.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, hearing him chuckle slightly, and Yusuke began to laugh properly.

"She came and tortured Kuwabara yesterday!" Yusuke said through his laughter, causing me to look at him in shock.

"Why?" I asked in complete confusion.

"She wanted to know where you were, and what was going on, and Kuwabara wouldn't tell her until she nearly broke his arm!" Yusuke said, a huge grin across his face. I must have had a look of disbelief across my face, because I saw Kurama nod in agreement from the corner of my eye after a few moments.

"Did she really?" I asked, seeing Yusuke nod quickly. "Damn, she already tortured Kuwabara on my behalf, stupid girl."I said in a petulant manner, hearing Kurama chuckle as Yusuke laughed. The person on the other side of the curtain was still there, and hadn't moved. I decided to put the question of where the hell I was aside, for the time being, forcing the image of the mermaid with the four colourful beings in the back of my mind for questioning later. It almost felt like someone was listening to me, but I didn't think about it in the least, hearing someone approaching at a very clumsy run, then I saw the curtain suddenly open. I saw a black cloak revealed of the person standing on the other side of the curtain, but I didn't pay too much attention to it, seeing Kuwabara's exhausted face as he stumbled into the cubicle.

"What's the matter Kuwabara, you didn't get chased by _ghosts _again, did you?" Yusuke asked, a sarcastic tone to his voice, causing Kuwabara to glare. There was relevance there, or it seemed like it as I heard Kurama shift slightly.

"No! Koenma wants Meia up in his office." Kuwabara gasped, and then I saw Yusuke frown.

"Pacifier breath wants us to bring Meia up to his office, when he can just come down here and spare the agony of a million questions?" Yusuke repeated.

_A million questions? _I thought, then I saw the image of the screaming and dangerous Mermaid being strapped down to the bed a few meters away from me. _More of that? _I wondered, then I snapped my gaze to the person behind the curtain as I saw from my peripheral vision that they had shifted slightly barely a moment after my thought had finished. I narrowed my eyes, watching the person's silhouette without a shift in gaze. There was a conversation going on that I didn't hear in the least. I didn't say anything, seeing them shift a fraction as the word psychic came up in my head for some reason. I looked away after a moment, filing that little reaction into the back of my mind for future reference as I was suddenly handed a blindfold.

"What the hell is this for?" I asked, seeing Yusuke cringe slightly.

"Look, just humour us, our boss is being a selfish brat." Yusuke said, causing me to reluctantly unfold the blindfold, seeing an absence of something from my peripheral vision, but I wasn't even thinking about that as I began to wonder what I was not supposed to be seeing as I tied the blindfold around my head.


	6. Requiem Of A Lost Home

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIX: The Requiem Of A Lost Home**_

"Alright, hope Pacifier breath has a _very _good reason for this!" I heard Yusuke say as I felt someone lift me out of the bed carefully, cringing slightly from pain that suddenly flared in both my leg and my arm, but only momentarily – my arm hadn't healed, I knew that well, and of course my leg would still hurt, it had only been a few days, I knew that very well. I must have been picked up by Kurama, Kuwabara was up ahead from what I could hear, and Yusuke was walking behind me, or rather, he was walking next to who was carrying me in their arms, and I just so happened to have my back to him, and that did leave Kurama. I could feel jolts of pain in my leg, causing me to rest my head on Kurama's shoulder lightly, feeling chills from the air course through my bones painfully, enhancing the pain in my leg.

"Man, I wonder why Hiei upped and left all of a sudden." I heard Yusuke wonder out loud as I heard lots of people running around as the group walked.

"I am curious myself, he seemed preoccupied about something." I heard Kurama say, gasping as I felt something hard come into contact with my leg.

"Hey! Watch where the hell you're going!" Kuwabara suddenly shouted as I cringed into Kurama's shoulder, feeling my eyes water from that.

"Sorry! I didn't see her there!" Came a voice, though there was no apologetic tone there.

"He's not sorry, that damn og—Ah!" Yusuke cut himself off suddenly. "What the hell was that idiots name! It's not Ogama!" He slapped a hand to his forehead from what I gathered from the slap sound, from the sounds of it now, he had shifted over to Kurama's other side, likely so no one else would knock my leg, for which I was thankful for. "Osama? No, that's some guy in the middle east! Ogukui? No ..."

"I believe his name is Ogimara." I heard Kurama say with a smile.

"_Thats it!"_ Yusuke said immediately. I wasn't really sure what they were talking about anymore, my mind drifting onto this Koenma that was wanting to see me. I began to wonder why Yusuke kept on referring to him as Pacifier breath, it certainly wasn't enlightening as to what sort of person he was, and it just made me more confused about where I really was.

"Yusuke!" Came a sudden shouting from the corridor we were heading down, causing me to cringe slightly as I felt Kurama come to a halt as running footsteps began to approach. "Hey! I was looking all over the place for you!" Came the shouting voice, causing me to try and block them out – I vaguely registered that it was a female voice shouting over the corridor – it sounded like a corridor in any case, the sounds were ricocheting off of the walls with more volume.

"What's up Botan? We're sort of busy here." Yusuke said, a dismissive tone to his voice as I heard the approaching running halt with a slight stumble, judging from volume, a couple of feet away.

"Sorry, Koenma wants to see this human that -- what?" The female that I gathered was Botan said, confusion in her voice as she said the last word.

"Ush-hay on the ace-ray!" I heard Yusuke say quickly under his breath, causing me to frown.

"I understand more than one language, Yusuke." I said quietly, hearing Yusuke suddenly shift suddenly.

"We're taking Meia to see Koenma now." Yusuke said in a stern voice, and I heard no response from the female called Botan. I felt Kurama begin to start walking again, but I was hearing four sets of footsteps now, which said that Botan was accompanying us. It was irritating being blindfolded, but I was reluctantly behaving myself. At least I wasn't being made to hobble along on Crutches at the same time, which would be a recipe for disaster. I felt myself beginning to fall asleep as my leg began to numb, it didn't seem to hurt anymore.

"About time!" Came a suddenly loud voice after what seemed no more than a second, causing me to stir slightly out of my near sleep state.

"Shut up Koenma, you should have gone down to the Infirmary yourself!" I heard Yusuke snap, trying to wake myself up, but I was having trouble succeeding, I only managed to stir slightly.

"I've got work to do! I don't have _time _to be running around the place!" Came the voice that I gathered was this Koenma I was supposed to be speaking with.

"That's just another way of saying you couldn't be bothered!" Came Yusuke's voice again. I began to wake up consciously as I felt someone untying the blindfold, cringing slightly as the sudden light hurt my eyes instantly. I heard the person that had taken my blindfold off step away from me after a moment, causing me to rub my eyes with a hand, feeling that I had fallen asleep from how hard my eyes were to open. I heard someone clear their throat loudly, causing me to manage to look over after a moment. All I saw, was a toddler standing on a chair, watching me with a stern look across his face. He was clad in blue and red, and he had a pacifier in his mouth. I immediately felt disbelief overcome me, staring straight at the toddler as I heard someone to my right shift slightly. Toddler wasn't too strange, definitely not. I had _seen _children, so I knew they weren't like that mermaid.

"Now then, Meia, My name is Koenma, I'm glad you got round to waking up." Came the loud voice that I had heard, and I blinked in reaction as I saw that it was the toddler that was talking. I felt nothing as my mind registered that it was the toddler speaking, then I felt laughter beginning to take over, but I bit my lip to stop that. It seemed that my apparent lack of reaction was unnerving someone as I nudged my broken leg with my other foot, flinching as I felt pain. Okay, this wasn't a dream, I wasn't asleep. The toddler called Koenma appeared to look almost astounded at me. "Holy smokes! Not a reaction from you at all—"

"I don't know Koenma, a talking toddler? She fainted after that mermaid." I heard Yusuke say in a suspicious tone of voice, hearing that he was standing a little to my left, and behind me. I could feel pain in my bottom lip from how hard I was biting down on it, repeating the words "Must not laugh" in my head like a mantra as the toddler looked at Yusuke in shock. "She could be so shocked that she can't move."

"No, she's trying not to laugh." I heard the voice of the person that had been standing behind the curtain, his little statement putting a crack in my resolve not to laugh, I nudged my broken leg again to stamp out the giggle before it escaped me, flinching from the pain, but it stopped me, and I repaired my resolve. "Clearly inflicting pain to do so." He added, then I saw the toddler called Koenma look at the person from a glance at me, which appeared that he was standing on the other side of Yusuke.

"Huh, well at least she's trying to restrain herself!" Koenma said, throwing a glare at two people in particular, but I didn't know who they were. He straightened up in his chair, then I flinched in the moment that he suddenly disappeared into a puff of white smoke with a _pop _sound. "There, this should help." I heard a different voice say, then I froze as I saw that the toddler had disappeared, and a teenager was standing in his place, dressed in the same colours, with a pacifier in his mouth, and he had the two letters Jr tattooed on his forehead.

"She's gonna have a heart attack at this rate!" I heard Yusuke say bitterly, feeling my jaw lock shut as I felt severe caution overcoming me.

"In any case." The person I gathered was still Koenma said loudly, looking at me sternly. "It seems you should be told about why you're here." He said, sitting down in his chair. "Now, I assume you're more than aware that this is not a normal place in the middle of Tokyo where you live." He began, but I didn't respond. "Short and sweet so I can get to the point. This place is called the Spirit World, and I am in charge of sending spirits onwards to their -afterlives. The world in which you live is basically known as the Human world, and there is another called Demon world, which I won't elaborate on." I felt my caution begin to grow more intense as I began to feel confused and somewhat alarmed. "The reason you were brought here is because of your origins, if you were to be admitted into a human hospital, we wouldn't have been able to control any issues that may have arisen, and we certainly would not have been able to observe you more closely than we have been over the past five years." I heard someone move behind me as I released my jaw fractionally and bit down on the inside of my bottom lip hard, trying _very _hard not to do anything. "We don't—" The door suddenly slammed open, but I didn't move an inch, seeing Koenma snap his gaze up to who had suddenly stepped into the room.

"Koenma sir! Your father wants you to finish this stack of papers later this evening!" Came a suddenly frantic voice, then I saw Koenma suddenly turn back into the toddler form again.

"Ogre! Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?!" Koenma suddenly shouted at the person as they came running over, but I didn't move an inch. I bit harder into my bottom lip as I saw that he was one of those colourful creatures that had brought that mermaid, only glancing at him – for some strange reason, I began to feel ... irritation beginning to overcome me, but I didn't know the direct cause of it. All I knew was that I did not like where this conversation was heading.

"I'm sorry Koenma sir! But King Yama said it had to be done, whether you were stopping an apocalypse or just sleeping!" The being said, which I gathered to be an Ogre from what Koenma called him. He was blue, but I paid no attention to that.

"Fine! Go before I kill you!" Koenma shouted, then I saw the Ogre place the huge stack of papers on the desk and begin to run from the room as fast as he could. The door slammed shut, bringing Koenma to look back at me. He exhaled deeply, then straightened up. "Right, where was I?" Koenma asked, looking at the others in the room past me as I remained silent and motionless.

"I believe you were just about to explain why you had people watching Meia." I heard Kurama's voice say, hearing that he was just to my right.

"Oh yes." Koenma breathed, then looked back at me, an odd look across his face. "As I was about to say, if something had of occurred, we wouldn't be able to control it, and it is of the most importance that you are kept under constant watch in case something were to occur." I bit down on my lip a little too hard as I felt the irritation beginning to increase, beginning to taste blood as the pain flared momentarily, knowing from that alone that I had bit a nice little hole into the inside of my bottom lip, causing me to release it.

"Constant watch?" I repeated through clenched teeth, my lips barely moving. I saw Koenma shift suddenly.

"Y-yes, Meia, it's important, since you're not human, and we don't know what you are." He said, and clearly without thinking as he flinched a moment later as he realised what exactly he had said. I decided to bite down on my tongue as I felt my irritation elevate to just before angry, since my lip couldn't take any more damage without putting a hole straight through it. "It's not to say that — The only thing we know is that you are definitely not a human. We don't know if you're harmless, or more likely dangerous, and the only thing we can do that doesn't ... complicate things, is that you agree to remain under watch until we can ascertain whether you are a liability, otherwise ..." He paused, taking a breath after a moment as he adopted a serious expression, though there was guilt there. "We'll be forced to either lock you up indefinitely ... or kill you."

"WHAT?!" Two voices suddenly yelled as I felt myself freeze, my jaw clenching shut as I just stared at Koenma.

"What the hell are you talking about?! You can't just do that to her if she doesn't agree to be tied to a leash!" I heard Yusuke yell furiously, seeing Koenma look up at him gravely from me.

"It's not my decision ... it's my fathers, and he won't take no as an answer." Koenma said, looking back at me.

"That's bullshit!" Yusuke spat. I saw Koenma look at me hopefully from a glance at Yusuke.

"No." I seethed, feeling my anger return to me. "This is ludicrous, I don't even know who the hell you are, and you're telling me to either agree to your terms or incarceration if not death?" I saw him look a little more guilty. "No, I want to go home."

"I'm sorry Meia." I heard him say gravely Kurama stepped to me. "But your home doesn't exist anymore."

"What?" I heard Kurama ask in shock, seeing the toddler hang his head slightly.

"I was hoping you would understand, so I had all of your belongings brought here." He said, but all I could do was stare at him.


	7. Bombardment Of A Forced Decision

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SEVEN: Bombardment Of A Forced Decision**_

"I was hoping you would understand, so I had all of your belongings brought here." Koenma said, a look of guilt across his face as he glanced at Kurama from me.

"Y-your're not serious, are you Koenma?" I heard Yusuke manage to ask after a few moments, shock throughout his whole voice.

"No." Koenma said, looking at Yusuke from me, and he didn't look back at me. "All of her belongings are in the main store rooms until we know where to put her." It was like I wasn't even in the room anymore.

"Did you even think to _ask_ her what _she _wanted?!" Yusuke demanded, walking up to the desk as he began to glare at the toddler ruler. Yes, it was exactly like I wasn't even in the room.

"I just did." Koenma said, a slightly taken back tone to his voice as Yusuke glared at him.

"No you bloody didn't!" Yusuke snapped back. I managed to drag myself to my feet, ignoring the agonising pain in my leg as I put weight on it, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as when I woke up to it being broken in the first place. My movement went unnoticed by Yusuke and Koenma as I began to leave the room, feeling Kurama touch my shoulder.

"Meia, sit back down before you break what has healed." I heard him say quietly, but I was too bitter, too upset to listen to reason, shrugging him off and leaving the room. The door didn't close as fast as it should have as I pushed it shut behind me, continuing to hobble onwards, heading down the end of the corridor to the left and beginning to make my way out of this place. Unfortunately for me, my body could only take enough pain to get me twenty meters down the corridor, then I felt my leg and ankle suddenly break again, causing me to gasp suddenly and crumble against the wall. I reluctantly sat myself against the wall, hearing someone run down the corridor from a doorway further along where I was heading, and continue running down the corridor. I didn't see anything more than red skin and a leopard skin loincloth. I shut my eyes slowly as I forced the pain back, resting my head against the wall at my back as I heard a door open several moments later. I didn't move an inch as I heard footsteps approaching, remaining with my eyes closed as I heard the footsteps come to a halt just a meter away from me, and then I heard the sound of them sitting down after a few moments. They said nothing and neither did I, I couldn't care less about anything anymore.

"I'm sorry about this, Meia." I heard them say after a couple of minutes, Kurama's voice. There was such a sincerity in his voice that I couldn't be angry with him. The only person I _could _be angry with, was that transforming toddler.

"It's not your fault." I whispered, hearing him shift slightly. I could almost hear Yusuke still shouting at Koenma, which was strange, he didn't know me really from the next person he'd have met, so it puzzled me that he was to mad over what Koenma said. There was nothing more said, I only flinched on the odd occasion that my leg flared in pain, remaining in a state of silence as I sifted through my thoughts slowly. It was clear there would be no apartment to return to, whether I took my stuff back or not, it was unsaid, but I knew the lease was canceled as well, everything was taken down, and if i decided to take my chances against the people that were either going to lock me up in jail or kill me just because I _might _be dangerous._ I was hoping you would understand_, who the hell would _understand _what he hoped I would do when you get told, Nice to meet you, just letting you know you're some unnamed monster and because of that we will likely kill you if you don't agree to be tied on a leash until further notice?!

"I want out." I said quietly a few minutes later, hearing Kurama shift fractionally, but he said nothing. I flinched as I shifted my leg fractionally, hearing Kurama get to his knees after a few moments.

"I assume you rebroke your leg." I heard him say, but I remained silent and motionless. "Well, I suppose I had best get you down to the infirmary and get it looked at." I felt him pick me up again after a few moments, feeling the severe pain in my leg intensify suddenly, but I ignored it with difficulty, remaining with my eyes closed as I refused to even look at the beings around, the building, I hated it.

"What about that Koenma?" I asked bitterly, hearing Kurama remain silent for a moment.

"It doesn't really matter, and Hiei knows where to find us." He said. I thought about that for a few moments, then just decided to scrap the information, it didn't matter to me.

"Has Lord Koenma finished with his talk with her?" Came an unfamiliar voice, but I didn't care about it, feeling Kurama place me on the bed again.

"Well, she's listened to about as much of it as she's going to take." I heard Kurama say with an edge of a wry smile as I looked down at my legs, seeing a purple-skinned being step into my peripheral vision. "She may have broken her leg again, could you reset the complete cast?"

"Oh, don't tell me that!" The purple begin said as I saw – her – lean over to the table on the far side of the cubicle and grab what looked to be a rather large cast saw. "She didn't walk on it, did she?"

"Yes, I did." I cut in petulantly, seeing the being look at me instantly – I didn't like people speaking about me as if I wasn't even in the room.

"Well, it does look like I'll be resetting the cast for you, Miss, it'll be a bit painful when I get to resetting it." The being said, causing me to feel a little bit better at her talking to _me _now. I let her begin to cut the cast from my leg, feeling Kurama watching me without a shift in gaze as I began to think again. I looked down at the cast as the being – who I gathered was a female shade demon called Ritsuko – my irritation seemed to be dragging the disbelief from me, I was accepting that there were slight things that I was unaware of, she just looked like another person that had fallen into a giant tank of purple dye when she was a child, she called herself a shade demon when she introduced herself properly. I could see a lot of bruises, a lot of stitches, and a lot of strange marks over the skin of my leg, and there were a lot of lumps where the breaks clearly were. I heard Ritsuko sigh wearily as I flinched at a stitch pulling fractionally. "I thought so. You'll have to hang tight, I'll go get the anaesthetic." She said, beginning to leave the room. I looked up at Kurama after a few moments, seeing him sitting on the stool that was next to the bed, a thoughtful look across his face as he watched me. I looked away from him after a moment, returning my gaze to my disfigured leg.

"Kurama." I said quietly, hearing him shift slightly. "Are they really going to kill me?" I asked. There was no point in mentioning incarceration, that was not the one I was beginning to worry about.

"I'm not sure." I heard Kurama reply thoughtfully after a few moments, feeling his gaze upon the side of my face as I remained silent. "It's a possibility, unfortunately ... It's more than likely that Koenma had presented the best negotiation he could by requesting your cooperation."

"But I didn't _do _anything!" I snapped, hearing him shift slightly as I closed my eyes wearily. "Sorry. I didn't—"

"No offence taken, I'd be just as upset if I were in your situation." I heard Kurama say quietly, causing me to nod slightly in thanks. For some strange reason, Kurama seemed to make me feel a little better. I didn't quite understand it, but I knew he was trustable. "It appears you needed time for this to sink in a little." I heard him say, causing me to reluctantly nod. I definitely didn't accept it, there was no way I was going to accept it, but ... for the fact that I was put in a situation where I was being forced to do something I did not want, that was sinking in, much to my reluctance. I saw Ritsuko come back after a few minutes, seeing her with a fair few items with her, and one large phial of what I gathered to be the anaesthetic. I eyed the phial of clear liquid oddly as she held it over my leg, seeing her smile at me in an encouraging manner.

"It's a diluted mixture, it's not going to make your whole body numb, alright?" She said, causing me to glance at Kurama. He said nothing, causing me to reluctantly nod – I trusted him more than the demon. I cringed as the liquid came in contact with my leg, feeling it begin to fill the cuts and stitching holes, a horrid cold sensation was what I got over the rest of my leg. I saw her pull the phial away after a few moments, paying attention to what exactly she was doing – I knew for a fact that something had been done to me to get my leg to heal as fast as it had originally, and I wanted to know what that was, I just so happened to be unconscious the last time. She began to go through the bandages and strips of gauze that she had brought as well, appearing to be sorting them out for better placing. "It'll be about ten minutes before it kicks in, so don't worry too much." Ritsuko said, causing me to nod fractionally, then frown slightly as I heard approaching running.

"What's that?" I asked, knowing I wasn't hearing things as I saw Kurama snap his gaze to the door immediately. I felt my nerves suddenly twitch at the cautious look across his face, causing me to snap my gaze to the door as it suddenly slammed open. I flinched as I saw a huge looking person walk into the infirmary room, but he wasn't ... human, his eyes looked like they belonged to a snake instead, and he had fangs. He had black hair and red eyes, and he had a sword in his grip as he began to approach me.

"Well, well, baby doll, it looks like I'm going to enjoy killing a beauty like you." The being said, his gaze upon me and nowhere else.

"Excuse me! Get out of here this instant! You can't be in here!" Ritsuko shouted at the being as he approached me, seeing him glare at the woman as I saw Kurama get off his chair and move in front of me, a glare across the glimpse of his face that I saw.

"Sorry, hag, I'm under King Yama's orders to kill this girl, her seventy two hours are up." The being said, looking back at me after a moment and pushing past Ritsuko as she tried to push him out of the infirmary. I watched as the huge demon continued to approach me and Kurama, feeling purely intimidated by his sheer size, four foot one compared to a seven foot being, that's nearly double my height! "Get outta the way pretty boy, I've got no problem with you, I'm just doin' my job." The being said, but Kurama didn't move an inch.

"I suggest that you leave." Kurama said in a civilised tone of voice, but there was something behind his words that made me nervous.

"Me? Leave?" The being scoffed, then he began to laugh at the top of his lungs. "I don't think so." He said, suddenly flicking his sword up so it was against Kurama's neck. "Now move, before I accidentally slit your throat."

"I suggest that you preserve your life and leave now, you won't be killing her." Kurama said in the same civilised manner. I saw the being continue to stare at Kurama's face, then I suddenly flinched as I saw the sword the being was holding suddenly come straight at me. I managed to move out of the way in time to miss being impaled in the heart, but I felt sudden pain through my hand as I heard the sword stab through steel and stone, gasping in pain suddenly. I heard a sudden crash as I heard someone punch someone, feeling the pain suddenly rise again, feeling the sword suddenly torn out of my hand as I fell from the bed, gasping in pain as I hit the floor as a whole lot of crashing and banging echoed throughout the room.

"Youra, stop! You're out of line!" Came the voice of the Teenager version of Koenma, causing me to snap my gaze up immediately, seeing someone dressed in complete black standing just in front of me, his sword blocking the one that belonged to the being I gathered was called Youra, who was standing just before the person in front of me, staring back at him from a glance at me every now and then. I could see the teenage version of Koenma standing to the left, and Yusuke was standing with his hands straight out in front of him, one hand holding his other which was held like his hand was a gun, glaring at Youra. Kuwabara was to the side helping Kurama up, who had a hand to the side of his face over a gash.

"No, Koenma sir, I've been given orders to dispose of that girl, your spirit detectives however are the one's out of line!" Youra spat, leering down at me past the person that was standing between us.

"She's only known about this for a freaking hour, you stupid bastard!" Yusuke spat.

"It's been seventy two hours since the order was given, she is going to die." Youra seethed, glaring at me.

"Unless you agree to remain under constant watch, we can't do anything!" I heard Koenma say, a sharp edge to his voice from caution. I bit into my lip again as I remained silent and motionless, my gaze flicking between Koenma and Youra quickly.

"Don't be stupid, Onna, you've only got one choice." The voice of the person with his sword blocking Youka's said, causing me to look at him immediately as I recognised his voice – he was the one that had been standing on the other side of the curtain. "Do you want to live, or die?"

"Hiei! What're you—" Kuwabara began shouting, but he was cut off as Kurama held a hand to silence him. I stared at the black-clad man standing in front of me for several moments, then hung my head as I reluctantly came to a decision.

"Fine." I said after several moments, closing my eyes as I felt just, chained down and manipulated. "I agree ... Koenma."


	8. The Set In Of Indirect Incarceration

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER EIGHT: The Set-In Of Indirect Incarceration**_

I had never encountered such a tense silence in my conscious life before the moment after I spoke that line. I wasn't really sure what had happened, and I didn't care. There was silence for what seemed like a minute after I spoke, and nobody moved. The next thing that happened was I heard the sound of two swords being taken away from each other, then I heard someone suddenly storm out of the room. I heard the man standing a meter in front of me begin to leave after a moment, but he didn't leave the room per say, it sounded like he had just walked away from _me. _My hand that was bleeding quickly was tense in my lap, my lap was soaked with blood now, and my hand twitched every now and then. The anaesthetic had kicked in for my leg, so I couldn't feel it.

"Right." I heard Koenma breathe as I heard the sounds of two people beginning to move – one was leaving the room as the other began to approach me. "Hiei, Kurama, could you come with me, Yusuke and Kuwabara, keep an eye on Meia please." I heard Koenma say, hearing two sets of footsteps leaving, hearing another follow after a few moments – I could tell that one was Kurama.

"Hang in there Kiddo." I heard Yusuke say after several moments, hearing someone begin to approach me, hearing them crouch down in front of me. "It'll get better, you'll see. Chances are you'll be put in the same house as us, and you'll have that bastard to vent your anger out on all day." I heard Yusuke say as I felt him place a hand atop my head and ruffle my hair slightly.

"What?! What'd I do?!" Kuwabara exclaimed in shock.

"Nothing, I'm just stating the facts, moron." I heard Yusuke reply, hearing Kuwabara complain in an incoherent string of words. I probably would have smiled if I didn't feel so god damn trapped right at that moment. "Ow, that doesn't look too comfortable, you're not feeling that?" I heard Yusuke say, causing me to look up at him after a moment, seeing him looking at my legs. I looked down and saw that I was positioned on top of my broken ankle, and it was that twisted up from my falling from the bed that it _was _amazing that I couldn't feel it.

"The ... nurse numbed my leg before that ... person came in here." I said quietly.

"Oh, well that's better then. I was beginning to wonder why you weren't screaming." He said, then I flinched as I felt him suddenly pick me up off the floor and place me on the bed carefully. "Hey, Kuwabara, did you see where that shade demon went?" I heard Yusuke ask curiously, causing me to close my eyes as I grabbed the sheets of the bed and wrapped it around my hand tightly to try and stop the bleeding.

"She ran right past when we got here." Kuwabara answered, and I felt someone sit on the bed a few feet from me after a moment. "She looked like she was going into hysterics."

"That'll be right, a fricking nurse running away when she's needed." Yusuke complained. "Kuwabara, reckon you could go find someone?"

"Why me?!" Kuwabara complained immediately.

"Because, you heard what Koenma's agreement was, Meia's gotta remain under constant watch, and you'd end up falling asleep if I leave you here." Yusuke said, a slightly sarcastic edge to his words. I heard Kuwabara begin to complain as he left the room, a noticeable scowl in his voice. I heard the door slam shut, then I heard Yusuke shift slightly – who happened to have been the person that was sitting on the bed with me. "Now that the blabbering bastards gone." I heard Yusuke begin, causing me to look up at him slowly. "Pacifier breath's gonna look at putting you in the house with us, so you're probably going to hate this, but Kuwabara's moving into the house as well." I heard Yusuke say, seeing him give me a smirk after a moment. "He's a pain in the ass, so you'll probably wanna slit his throat in his sleep, but try not to, cause you'll be kicking yourself for killing the house punching bag."

"Why're you telling me this?" I asked weakly, not comprehending the look across his face as his smirk melted away after a moment.

"Just giving you heads up, cause Pacifier Breath did the dirty on you." He said, his smirk creeping back onto his face. "Don't worry so much. You're not going to be happy for the first two weeks, but you _should _be free to do your own thing after that." I felt my composure melt quickly, seeing him give me a grin. "And Kurama's a _good _cook! It'll be like five star restaurant food twenty four seven!" I saw his grin grow more as I felt the dead look face from my face a little bit. "There ya go! It's not all that bad, really. And you'll get your own room, I'm sure!"

"So ... no shackles and chains?" I asked quietly, seeing him furrow his brow, as if he was thinking really, really hard.

"No, I don't think I've ever seen any of those in my life." He said, a smirk in his voice. I felt the dead look leave my face a little more, then the both of us looked at the door as Kuwabara walked back in with two nurses in tow, one being Ritsuko and the other looking to be a relative that appeared to fall into a giant tub of orange dye instead.

"Oh dear god what the heck did you do to your ankle!?" I heard Ritsuko exclaim the moment she looked at my foot, causing me to look, cringing as I saw that I essentially only had bone fragments for a good inch or so of my leg just above the ankle, and my leg looked like it had been twisted completely one way, then returned to straight very poorly. Looking at it made me feel pain.

"I fell on it." I answered quietly, then I saw her pale very quickly.

"Looks like you're going to sleep so we can fix that, properly!" The other nurse said, and I saw Ritsuko nod immediately, causing me to cringe – I didn't want to go to sleep, just in case that person came back to kill me. "But it'll have to be soon so we can wait out the anaesthetic, then redose her, with her leg like that she'll be screaming in half an hour!"

"No, I can take it." I said immediately, seeing both nurses look at me in alarm.

"No, impossible with—"

"Hey, take my word for it, if she says she can take the pain, then she can." Yusuke said with a smile, the two nurses looking at him in shock. "We had to force her leg back in place when it snapped nearly in two like a branch, and she didn't even scream once." The two nurses blinked, then they looked at me after a moment.

"Fine, but at the first sign of severe distress, she's being put to sleep." Ritsuko said, then I frowned as both nurses began to head into the next room.

"Could I have some bandages though?" I asked, seeing Ritsuko look at me in shock. I said nothing, removing the sheet from my hand and holding it up for her to see. She paled again, and sprinted to the table next to her, grabbing the bandages and stitches, and began to work on my hand immediately. She wasn't exactly careful, I could tell she was working on my pain reactions, and because I only cringed and took in sharp breaths, she could be quick and forceful. I was surprised she didn't see all the blood over my lap when she and the other nurse walked into the room. Kuwabara yawned as he set himself down against the wall next to the door, and I heard Yusuke snigger to himself.

"What?" I asked in a hushed voice as Kuwabara closed his eyes to go to sleep.

"He's a complete moron, the moment someone opens that door, he's gonna get hit." Yusuke said in a hushed voice, and I blinked as I looked back to Kuwabara.

"There, that should do. You're not allowed to lift anything with this hand for a week, until it's had time to heal." Ritsuko said, allowing me my hand back. I took it gratefully, looking down at my tightly bandaged hand.

"Thanks." I said quietly, seeing her nod slightly and begin to disappear into the other room that the other nurse disappeared into. I looked at Kuwabara as I heard snoring, then looked at Yusuke as he laughed under his breath. "What?"

"Just wait, ten seconds." Yusuke said, watching Kuwabara without a shift in gaze. I didn't _hear _anything, but then all of a sudden, the door slammed open, and the door hit Kuwabara in the shins with enough force to have him yelp in fright as he awoke, scrambling away with a panicked look across his face, which caused Yusuke to burst out in laughter, and I had to cough to stop my giggle. I could see Kurama walking behind the teenage version of Koenma as he stepped into the room. I remained silent and motionless as Koenma came to a stop in front of me, Kurama stopping just a little bit behind Koenma, and to his left.

"Meia, I've made arrangements for you to shift into the house with my team of spirit detectives for your agreement." He said, a tone of business to his voice, which was good, I was bitter at him, for a _very _good reason, I didn't want to deal with him any more than what was necessary. "We will have to place a locating device on you, so we can tell where you are at all times, and this will be for the span of two weeks to a month. By which at that point, we should know whether or not you're a liability to spirit world, as my father put it."

"So I'm to remain in the house." I stated from a hunch that I suddenly had.

"The only time you are permitted to leave the house, is in the company of one of the spirit detectives, and you aren't permitted to speak to anyone other than the four spirit detectives and myself, other than that, you are free to do whatever you wish." Koenma said. I looked away from him for a moment, looking back at him as a question formed in my head.

"Then, that means I can't go to college." I stated, seeing a guilty look cross Koenma's face.

"Unfortunately, no, Meia. You can't." He answered, causing me to nod slightly. It meant the only four people I was going to see for the next month was Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, and the one I assumed to be called Hiei. "Your belongings are being taken to the house as we speak, and you will be taken there this evening, as soon as your injuries are tended to." He said. I didn't even nod, remaining with my gaze upon the floor. "Meia, do you und—"

"Yes, I heard you." I said quietly, seeing Koenma nod fractionally from the corner of my eye.

"I am sorry it turned out this way." I heard Koenma say, but it didn't mean _anything _to me. I had never even met some of these people before, and my life has just been rewritten to their requirements, without a single thought to what I wanted.


	9. Surrender

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi**_]-

_**CHAPTER NINE: Surrender**_

Bandages and crutches was not my idea of recovery, but it was so much better than if I was in a _normal _hospital. I knew I'd be internally screaming in pain for hours if I was there, the doctors wouldn't know what the hell to do with me at all, and I'd be stuck in the main ward for god knows how many days. Of course, that was also accompanied with the fact that I was well and truly incapable of getting terribly far if I did try to run away when I was alone. The ceiling of the room in the Infirmary I was being kept in was becoming bland and rather horrid, I had been staring up at it for hours as I waited for someone to come and tell me to get up. The two nurses were now nowhere to be seen, they seemed to have disappeared the very moment after I was no longer in requirement for medical attention, which suited me just fine. I was too tired and bothered to be putting up with anyone. I shifted my leg slightly, feeling a slight shot of pain shoot up my limb, causing me to cringe. The two nurses had said something about my bone ailment, that from what they could see it was not me being born with it, but rather, something had caused it, but I didn't pay any attention to them. The thought of me being born with a bone ailment was easier to swallow than the thought of this being done to me.

I merely looked over at the door as I heard it swing open, seeing Yusuke and Kurama step into the room, Kurama glancing around as Yusuke smiled at me broadly as he approached immediately. There was something about that smile that didn't quite cheer me up like he clearly intended, and who would it cheer up? Being dragged into this situation? I was almost willing to bet that only someone with a severe mental problem would be cheered up by such a thing.

"Meia, guess what? You can leave now!" Yusuke said as he came to a stop next to me. I didn't smile.

"No I'm not." I said quietly, seeing him think for a moment, then he lost the smile a little bit.

"Sorry, didn't mean it like that." He said, then glanced at Kurama as he came to a halt next to him. It wasn't their fault, I just felt that damn miserable that I was unable to not take it out on the first person that spoke to me.

"Forget it, I'm just not in a very good mood at the moment." I replied wearily, replacing my gaze to the ceiling. That was the understatement of the century.

"It's alright, we understand." I heard Kurama say, causing me to close my eyes for a few moments. I just wanted to wake up lying on my bathroom floor again, my next door neighbour standing over me with a phone to his ear.

"Well, sit up. That ceiling's probably just making your temper worse, and you can't vent out on Kuwabara yet." Yusuke said, causing me to cringe slightly. I reluctantly dragged myself upright, then flinched as I felt Yusuke grab me suddenly and lift me from the bed, an arm beneath my knees, and his other around the base of my shoulders, clearly because of my broken leg. I saw Kurama grab my crutches from the side of the bed, causing me to frown slightly – Obviously the whole 'carry' me out of the hospital was so I wouldn't put pressure on my hand, which Ritsuko had bandaged a few times extra to limit my ability to use that limb when she caught me lifting myself upright with it a few hours beforehand.

"Your belongings are already waiting in the house, Meia, we just have to put you in a room first of all before we move your belongings." I heard Kurama say, causing me to look at him as he began to walk ahead, opening the door for Yusuke as he began to follow, with me still in his grip. "There's four rooms available, one on the first floor, two on the second floor, and one, in the basement rather regrettably."

"Basement." I said immediately, seeing Kurama look at me immediately.

"But, that would not be a smart place for you with your injuries." Kurama began, but I shook my head slightly.

"I like dark and isolated places, if I can't be back in my apartment, then the basement is the next best thing." I said, seeing him nod slightly in reluctance after a moment.

"Then in that case, we'll start bringing your belongings downstairs while Yusuke shows you around the house." Kurama said, causing me to nod slightly. I almost didn't notice the many coloured ogre walking around the whole area, the whole incarceration or death thing had essentially desensitised me to the emotion of shock indefinitely, and I certainly wasn't willing enough to let these people whisk me away to some place in the middle of nowhere without me at least observing where they took me, since I was given the opportunity this time. They all seemed too wary, almost as if they were scared of me, or rather, scared of something they associated with me. I frowned fractionally at that thought, and looked around slowly, merely waiting for them to get me out of this place. Kurama pushed open a huge, gigantic door, which I knew was to Koenma's office, from when I stormed out of there. I didn't look, it didn't seem anyone was in the room in the least as I heard no words exchanged.

"Hiei and Kuwabara're at the house, right?" Yusuke asked, and I saw Kurama nod slightly. I then spotted what looked to be a floating purple oval a few meters in front of Kurama, seeing him look back at me as he felt my curiously alarmed gaze running right past him.

"This is a portal that we use to travel from this world back to human world, and even through to demon world, depending on whether the barriers are active or not." Kurama explained, but I didn't look at him, staring at the mass of purple. I could see that it was swirling around into itself fluidly, a slight whirling of air was what I could hear coming from the strange ... thing. The edges of the portal were transparent, slowly solidifying into the swirling purple mass. "It just feels like an increase in air pressure for a few moments in the time frame that one heads through the portal, but then it leaves once one is on the other side." He added, but I still remained silent. I saw him turn back to the portal, then he stepped into it, which was met with the sound of air squeezing through a small ventilation shaft, then all was silent again. I could feel the shock written clearly across my face as I saw no sign of Kurama in the least, and I couldn't see any part of him through the transparent parts of the portal.

"It's not that bad." I heard Yusuke say, causing me to snap my gaze to him. "Seriously, don't be such a chicken, I wouldn't throw myself through a portal if it was going to harm me." I still didn't exactly know what to make of it, and I could feel my nerves beginning to take control of me. Sure, coloured people, I could take, no problem. But weird purple portal things were another thing in it's entirety. I flinched as I felt Yusuke begin to approach this so called 'Portal', hearing him laugh as I buried my head into his chest at the realisation that he wasn't going to stop at any time soon. There was the same forceful sound of rushing wind, then I felt pressure suddenly clamp down on me painfully. Then, all of a sudden the pressure and sound cut off, and I dared a glance out from Yusuke's chest, seeing that we were now in the interior of a huge house. The house was made out of timer, or another heavy wood, the house had an old feel to it too, like it had been here for a very, very long time. We appeared to be in something of a lounge room, there were a few couches in the middle of the room, and a couple of armchairs here or there, one by the windowsill facing a lake, one by the fireplace, and one in the very back of the room. The ceiling reached very high, four meters off the floor, which caused me to look up after a moment, feeling an immediate attraction, the rafters that were above my head would definitely be my lurking place, just as soon as I was recovered and had found a sure way to get me both up and down from there without trouble.

"Okay, this is the lounge, obviously." Yusuke began, beginning to carry me out of the room and into a hallway, which had the same warm wooden colours as the lounge room. "This's the kitchen." Yusuke said, walking just straight across the hall to the room on the opposite side, which showed a kitchen of very similar colours, but there was a lot of white and silver of kitchenware and other such items. There appeared to be something cooking, but I couldn't tell what, causing me to begin to look around as Yusuke began to head down the hall. "Down there's your room since you picked basement." Yusuke said, motioning to a flight of stairs that lead down with his foot. I took note of that, looking into the open room just a little to the left of the stairs, seeing boxes in there, packing boxes, clearly this was where they were keeping my gear before I chose my room, since I could see Kuwabara picking up boxes inside. "Basically all that's up there is the other bedrooms in the house, I'm not sure if you'd want to go up there just yet." Yusuke hedged, causing me to look at him, seeing a sheepish grin across his face. "We've got some guests this evening, and believe me, two of them you'd rather not deal with just yet. They'll just make you want to kill them instead of Kuwabara." I blinked, seeing him grin at me. "Honest, you can find out for yourself later." He said, then he began to carry me downstairs as Kuwabara stepped out of the storeroom.

"Urameshi! Give me a hand!" Kuwabara gasped.

"No can do, moron. You're the one that decided to lift three boxes at once." Yusuke said with a smirk, causing me to look at Kuwabara, and yes, he was in fact carrying three packing boxes, one on top of the other, which towered over his head.

"Please?!" He pleaded, a slightly hysterical tone to his voice as he nearly dropped the boxes.

"Just put them down and grab _one_! Even a monkey could come up with that!" Yusuke said, causing me to glare at nothing at the mention of monkeys. I hated monkeys with a passion. Kuwabara yelped, causing me to cringe as I heard the clattering of lots of plastic cases – at least it was my DVD collection and not something like my breakables collection. I felt Yusuke just exhale deeply with a sigh as he began to carry me downstairs. There were a fair many stairs to the bottom floor of about a meter by two meters, causing me to cringe mentally, but I could manage. I saw an open door, causing me to almost lean out of Yusuke's grip and look inside as soon as I was able to see, seeing a fairly large room. The room was lit by lamp-light, it seemed there was no real light in the room, and there was a strange feel about it, like it was very familiar, though I knew for a fact that I had never been here before. I could see Kurama beginning to unpack a box of what I knew to be my clothes. The room had one large double bed, my huge study desk, my other table, my chest of drawers and a huge bookshelf that almost stretched across the whole wall, which was eight meters across. There appeared to be one door on the other side of the room, on the right side of the room.

"Ah, Meia, I almost forgot about this." Kurama said as he looked over at me and Yusuke. I felt Yusuke set me down on the edge of the bed as Kurama approached me, grabbing what looked to be a bracelet from his pocket. "This is the locating device that Koenma said would be placed upon you." I reluctantly looked away, holding my right arm out as he came to a halt in front of me. "You might want to close your eyes for this." He said, but I didn't comply. I heard him shift slightly, then I felt the bracelet go around my wrist securely, but it was the next part that had the bite of surprise to it. I gasped as I felt a sudden pain in my wrist, snapping my gaze to it and seeing to my horror that the bracelet was tightening around my wrist painfully, breaking the skin and boring itself into my arm. I felt horror write itself over my face as the bracelet bore itself completely in my arm, and then Kurama pulled out a roll of bandages and wound gauze from his pocket, beginning to tend to my wrist.

"What in the hell was that?!" I demanded, seeing a regretful look across Kurama's face.

"The tracking device sets itself beneath the skin to avoid detection, and, to make it more difficult for removal by another other than the person that placed it in the first place." Kurama explained, and I felt all shock in my face being replaced by misery. I was never going to get out of here. "I'm truly sorry, Meia." He said honestly.

"Forget it." I said quietly, seeing Kurama look at Yusuke hesitantly as I hung my head silently, beginning to feel futility begin to set in. This was not much of an improvement from possibly being killed. There was no point in even trying to wait it out until I was by chance freed. I didn't know these people from the others that I've only seen at College, so the thought that I was forever trapped here was evident, and it was the only thing that I was thinking, feeling cold and abused at this very moment. But there was nothing, the only thing I could do, was surrender. And, reluctantly, since it was the only thing I _could _do to somehow make this easier, I did.


	10. Movies And Yusuke

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TEN: Movies And Yusuke**_

I didn't even look up as Kurama began to leave the room, saying something about organising dinner, I only heard it vaguely, and I only said 'No thank you' when I was asked something. I heard a clumsy set of footsteps enter the room after a few moments, seeing a fairly large box suddenly placed in front of me with a loud enough 'thunk' to let me know that these were my manga in their holder tins.

"This's the last box of your stuff." I heard Kuwabara say, causing me to look up at him, then to look around. There were another two boxes that weren't even in the room beforehand. "They really did bring everything that you had in that apartment." I looked away from him glumly at that reminder, seeing Yusuke suddenly step into vision.

"Ah, well. Want me to help you unpack? You just tell me where to put it!" He said in a loud voice, causing me to reluctantly nod – it would be pathetic for me to put all five large boxes of items away considering I was on crutches for the next week – at least that's how long Ritsuko said I would be on them. I saw him open the first box, and begin to pull out what I recognised to be all my toiletries and other such items. "Oh, and I forgot. You've got your own bathroom!" Yusuke said, as if the bag of shampoo and conditioner was the source of his thoughts. I merely nodded, seeing him placing all the items in the bathroom, and Kuwabara was unpacking the box that was next to the bookshelf, which left me opening the box that he had placed in front of me for the sake of having something to do.

"Huh? What's with all these DVD's?" I heard Kuwabara ask as I began to stack my manga on the bed next to me, causing me to look up at him as Yusuke grabbed another arm load of items from the box he dragged into the bathroom.

"I get bored." I said simply, seeing him look at me with a curious look.

"I've only heard of this one." He said, holding up Silent Hill, which caused me to nod slightly in knowledge – Oh the Japanese adored their Silent hill. I hadn't yet got hold of other movies of the like.

"And that doesn't surprise me." I said. A lot of the movies I had were not Japanese original, a lot of them were English, so it wasn't that surprising. I had the suspicion from that moment that Kuwabara couldn't understand English. I wondered if that was true. I saw him look at me in confusion, but I said nothing, seeing him look at the shelves.

"Put them up there?" He asked, motioning to the bookshelf.

"Go for it." I said quietly, seeing him beginning to stack the DVD's on the top shelf, causing me to frown deeply – I was going to need a chair to stand on to be able to reach them, but there was nothing for me to complain about, I wasn't being made to organise them all myself, which was a relief in itself.

"Man, that smells good! Kurama's going all out with dinner this time!" Yusuke said from the bathroom, stepping out with an empty box.

"I know, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Kuwabara said, causing me to glance at him momentarily.

"That poor horse." I commented without humour, but Yusuke suddenly burst out into laughter.

"Hey! What's that?!" I heard Yusuke ask suddenly as he looked at what Kuwabara was doing, causing me to frown slightly.

"Movies." I answered, seeing Yusuke suddenly leap at Kuwabara with a look of awe across his face. I felt the frown leave my face as he suddenly picked up the movie 'Silent Hill' with a look of shock across my face, then I saw him look at the Japanese version of 'The Ring'.

"A-Are these real?" He asked in a voice of something that sounded like awe to me, but ... why? I nodded slightly as he looked at me.

"The English remakes of the Ring Movie is in there as well, as well as the second they made." I said, and I saw him look at me in shock. "What?"

"You've got the English versions?!" He asked in shock, causing me to frown fractionally.

"That's what I just said." I answered, and he looked almost ... too happy.

"You're so awesome!" He said immediately, causing me to suddenly flinch. "Kuwabara! You go help her with what she's doing! I'll take over!" Yusuke said happily. I just watched as he began to go through the box with glee across his face, and Kuwabara sat down next to me, the both of us just watching Yusuke – he looked like a five year old kid on Christmas Morning just going through that box of DVD's. He would mutter something every now and then under his breath, and he would pause on the odd occasion as he picked up a DVD to read the title – I took mental notes on the ones he paused on, and it appeared he liked the genre that I was into.

"You know, Yusuke." I began several moments later as he picked up the cover of the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, seeing him look at me immediately. "You _can _take an armful of DVD's with you when you leave the room." I saw a look of disbelief for a few moments, then he looked like he was so happy he was about to pass out.

"Really!?" He asked in shock, and I heard Kuwabara begin to laugh hysterically at the positively ecstatic tone in Yusuke's voice.

"Yes, why would I be lying?" I asked, seeing him look like he was about to cry after a few moments – and yes, that only made Kuwabara begin to cry from laughing so hard.

"Any of them?" He asked, and I frowned fractionally.

"Silent Hill, Resident Evil and any anime I want back, but the rest, feel free to take and keep." I said. He immediately looked back at the ones he had stacked on the shelf, then I saw him pull the ones that I had taken mental note of down from the shelf, which did include Silent Hill and The Ring. I just shrugged it off and began to unpack the rest of my manga, seeing Kuwabara begin to unpack the last box of my belongings after several moments. It didn't take too long for the rest of my gear to be packed, apart from the DVD's when Yusuke came across my vast anime collection – he just sat there in the corner drooling over two titles that I was vaguely aware that I had. I could smell something that was beginning to make my stomach churn, but I tried to force it out of my mind.

"Must watch movies." I heard Yusuke say as Kuwabara folded up the last of the boxes, causing me to look over at him. It appeared he had returned the anime to the shelves, and he was now holding an arm of about ten movies in his arms, looking at them as if they were his most prized possessions. He suddenly had a Cheshire grin as he sprung to his feet and ran out of the room. "KEIKO! BOTAN! COME DOWN HERE AND WATCH THE RING WITH ME!" He suddenly yelled as he ran up the stairs.

"NO!" Came a chorus of voices immediately, causing me to smile fractionally as Kuwabara burst into laughter.

"I guess that means he likes them." I said to myself.

"Well, it smells like dinners ready, you coming?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, I think I'm going to stay down here for a while." I said, looking around for my crutches. I nodded in thanks as Kuwabara grabbed them and placed them on the bed next to me, and began to leave the room. He shut the door behind him, allowing me to look around the room slowly. It appeared, I was allowed my room, and I could feel the corners of my mouth pulling upwards into a smile as I grabbed my crutches carefully and dragged myself upright. I looked at the tops of the walls slowly, beginning to approach with a slight smirk on my face. Before I could get overly happy over the room, I had to check something first.

----------------------------------------------------

"What's that noise?" Kurama asked, looking down at the floor as the odd 'Tonk' sound came from the floor.

"Maybe she's looking for camera's?" Kuwabara suggested, Kurama looking at him immediately.

"Really, Kuwabara, she's not that strange." Yusuke said as he continued to go through the DVD's at the dining table, a laugh in his voice as Kuwabara glared.

"The baka human is correct." Came Hiei's remark from where he was seated, upon the windowsill in the kitchen area as Kurama served up eight plates of food.

"Huh? What?" Yusuke asked in confusion, a dumbfounded look across his face as he watched Hiei.


	11. Nightmares Upon A Broken Mirror

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER ELEVEN: Nightmares Upon A Broken Mirror**_

Slumber had taken me instantly, nearly in the very moment that I had set my head down on the pillow had I actually fallen asleep, which was truly a change for me, since it would take hours for me to fall even remotely unconscious before. It was something to do with the fact that I was drained from everything that had happened over the last two days, or rather that was what I had pinned it to out of the basis of logic.

_Again with this stupid dream. _I thought wearily as the dream began to play itself out again, this night seemed to be plagued with the same nightmares, and I had been hoping it would be one extra night I would have where I wouldn't dream again. If this was some form of mental punishment or some curse, I would have very much liked to know what essentially had me selected for this torture, as far as I knew, I hadn't done anything to deserve this. I felt my dream body blink slowly as she moved slightly, causing me to groan mentally as I felt pain course through me, but my dream body, like always, didn't flinch or make a single sound. There was a lot of blood, I could feel that, but for some strange reason, I couldn't feel where the injuries were, it was like her whole body couldn't isolate pains in the body, it was almost as if she was completely engulfed in pain, and I was completely engulfed in it as part of that. For some reason something was off, it was something I couldn't put my finger on as my dream body closed her eyes, a more intense pain in my left wrist and elbow. The pain was beginning to grow more intense, but I still couldn't figure out where it was, and the fact that my dream body was keeping her eyes closed, was really not helping me at that moment.

_This is wrong, there's something very wrong here. _I thought, feeling fractional relief as my dream body began to open her eyes again. For one, there was no smile across her face, even though that gave me nothing but relief, it was wrong, I knew she should have smiled already if it was the same dream, disregarding the various ways I had died. It was in that very moment that I felt something change. My dream body didn't move an inch, only her eyes closed slightly as I felt something tighten over my dream body, feeling something begin to cut deep into flesh like they were chains of razor wire. I managed to spot the pain in my arm, seeing much to my complete confusion, that there were chains wrapped around my arm tightly, so tightly in fact that it was cutting into my wrist and elbow bad enough where it was near impossible for the damage to be completely reversed. I examined the chains for a few moments while my dream body kept her eyes open half way,

_This is too strange, what the – _I began to think, but I fell silent as I felt somethng move beneath my dream body. I managed to look down through my dream selfs gaze, feeling pure confusion begin to overcome me as I saw the ground beneath me begin to shift slowly, almost unnoticeably. I felt my dream body shift herself slightly, tilting her head towards the ground slightly, which caused complete confusion to manifest itself into panic as I saw fingers beginning to rise out of the ground. This time, my dream self actually reacted just like I was in my non-physical state, her eyes widened in horror as hands came out of the ground and grabbed my body by the sides of her face as two silver eyes stared up at me maliciously, as a face that looked nearly the same as mine rose up out of the ground, my face if it weren't for the colour of the eyes.

----------------------------------------------------

"What the hell?!" Came someone's voice as I felt myself suddenly slip as I snapped awake almost instantly. Sudden pain hit me hard as I felt myself suddenly hit concrete, landing on my broken leg badly, which just made the pain all the more worse for obvious reasons. My heart was racing a million miles an hour, and I could feel pain as my breathing rushed, almost getting me no air from how fast and shallow my breathing actually was. My body was cold despite my racing heart, perspiration covering me as my head throbbed, as if I had been running in the cold for hours. I blinked furiously as I heard the door suddenly slam open, my gaze not bringing any image to me in the least, all I could see was pitch black as I managed to prop myself upright slightly on my left elbow, my injuries searing in pain as I tried to make sense of what was going on. The lamp on the table just next to the door suddenly flicked on, bathing the room in a yellow-hued light, and I could begin to make sense of where I was, but with my mind and heart racing, there was no chance of that. "Holy– Meia! Are you alright?!" Came a familiar voice, but I couldn't seem to recognise them. I nodded my head after a few moments trouble, managing to push myself upright as I heard them step over to where I was and begin to help me disentangle myself from the bed sheets that I didn't even know I was tangled up in.

"What happened?!" Came a second voice suddenly as I managed to look around quickly, my heart still racing as I managed to sit upright, seeing that I had fallen from my bed.

"I dunno! I heard something smash, so I came down here to look!" The first person said, and it took me several moments to realise that it was Yusuke, he was standing over me with a very cautious look across his face, in a white singlet and boxor shorts only. I realised I must have screamed or the crash echoed upstairs from that fact alone – it had to be late then, which meant I must have woken everyone up.

"Meia, are you alright?" I heard someone ask, but in a calmer voice than what Yusuke was using. I managed to look over after a few moments, seeing Kurama standing in the doorway, in nightclothes as well, and he had a cautious look across his face as well. I managed to jerk my head in a nod-like manner, seeing him look at Yusuke after a moment. "Meia, do you have any idea how the mirror broke?" He asked after a few moments, causing me to blink quickly – I must have looked like I was going to suddenly panic from how carefully they were wording their questions.

"M-Mirror?!" I managed to say, looking around the room shakily as I tried to figure out what he was going on about. The mirror broke? My gaze fell upon a mirror on a stand, a tall, full length one that stood two meters tall that was against the wall to my right next to the bookshelf of my manga and DVD's. But, it wasn't in one piece, the glass was shattered, and lying on the floor around the stand like many little diamonds that strangely were reflecting light emmited from the lamp. I stared at the broken mirror like an imbecile, trying to regain some composure, any amount so I could calm down, but staring at the mirror wasn't doing me any good in that.

"I take that as a no." I heard Kurama say after a few moments, my gaze still remaining on the glass as I heard Kurama begin to approach.

"The mirror in the bathroom's shattered as well." I heard Yusuke say after a few moments, causing me to manage to look at him after a moment, my breathing still just as fast – it was amazing I wasn't hyperventilating yet.

"I see." I heard Kurama state wearily, causing me to look at him immediately as he crouched down in front of me. "Meia, you need to calm down before you panic." He said sternly. I blinked quickly, feeling completely confused – I had been trying to calm down since I woke up!

"Do you think someone came in here?" Yusuke suggested as I just stared at Kurama, seeing Kurama throw Yusuke a cautious look almost immediately.

"No one came in or out of this room." Came a third voice, and I saw Yusuke and Kurama look over at the door immediately. I just placed my gaze on the far wall as I tried to calm myself down – If I went to look, I'd almost certainly break my own neck just from how fast I would look over – my movements were clearly still very jerky and unsteady as I felt Kurama place a hand to my shoulder and grip me firmly.

"That doesn't make sense!" Yusuke commented almost immediately.

"Obviously your just as stupid as that human, detective. There is only one way into this room." The voice said, and I began to distinguish this voice as I managed to slow my breathing a little bit.

"Yeah, so? I don't think Meia could break mirrors with her mind!" Yusuke replied almost immedaitely, causing me to suddenly look at him immediately – I could see a figure standing in the doorway in my peripheral vision.

"Mirrors don't break themselves, fool." The voice said, causing me to look over at who was standing in the doorway after a few moments of hesitation. I saw the person that was from Spirit World that I had ascertained was called Hiei. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, his eyes a crimson colour as he watched Yusuke with a condencending look in his eyes, and he had a bandana wrapped around his forehead. It was in this moment, however unmanagable my mind was, that I realised I had never seen his face until now, it was only ever his back that I had managed to see.

"What?! Are you saying that she had somehow managed to break them just by thinking it?" Came Yusuke's voice, snapping me back to the shreds of reality I could grasp. "I didn't sense anything!"

"Obviously logic is not your greatest strength." Hiei said bitterly, his gaze remaining on Yusuke, the condencending look still in his crimson eyes.

"I don't care!" Yusuke said bitterly, and I saw Kurama almost look like he was going to say something.

"The Onna is clearly responsible, whether you choose to believe it or not, baka." Hiei said, then I saw him turn and begin to head back upstairs. He didn't even look at me once the whole time.

"What in the hell does he mean by that?! I didn't sense any energy!" I heard Yusuke complain.

"Hiei has a point, Yusuke." Kurama said after a few moments, then I saw from my peripheral vision that Kurama had looked back at me.

"Tch! Right."

"Good, you've calmed down at least." I heard Kurama say, vaguely aware that he was even talking to me as I stared at the doorway in silence.

"I still don't buy into this whole 'Meia is responsible for breaking mirrors in her sleep' crap!" I heard Yusuke mutter under his breath, causing me to slowly look at him after a moment, seeing him standing with his arms crossed tightly as he glared at the door.

"Sleep?" Kurama repeated suddenly, then he looked at me instantly. "Meia, did you have a nightmare?" I felt my stomach churn as the image of that ... face came up in my minds eye, feeling bile rise in the back of my throat. I shook my head quickly almost as soon as I could manage, anything to stop that image in my head, and it seemed to work, that was, until I looked at the glass on the floor, and saw chains in my minds eye. "Meia, are you being honest?" I heard him ask skeptically. I managed to look at him after a few moments, seeing a very serious look across his face.

"It ... doesn't matter." I managed to speak, my voice shaking from the stress. I heard Kurama exhale deeply after a few moments.

"Well then, since it's just about time for me to be up anyway, why don't you come upstairs and let me take a look at that hand for you." Kurama spoke after a few moments. I stared at him in confusion, seeing him force a sympathetic smile onto his face after a moments. I looked down at my hands after a few moments, seeing that the hand with the hole through the palm was bleeding noticeably, and my other wrist had speckles of red showing through the bandages. I guessed Ritsuko was more serious about me not using my hand than I thought. "Yusuke, could you grab Meia for me, I'll retrieve her crutches." Kurama said, getting to his feet after a few moments. I wasn't really feeling anymore pain, all I was feeling was numb aside the sickening feeling from that dream, and I almost didn't notice as Yusuke stepped over and picked me up carefully. I looked at Yusuke as Kurama began to head upstairs, seeing him frowning into the dark in front of him.

"Yusuke ..." I began after a few moments, feeling him begin to take me up the stairs after a few moments

"What?" He asked after a few moments, as I cringed against my broken leg bumping against the wall momentarily.

"I'm sorry ... if I woke you." I apologised quietly, closing my eyes as I saw the image of that face again.

"Huh? You didn't wake me, I was already downstairs when I heard those mirrors break." Yusuke said after a moment, a slight air of confusion to his voice. I looked up at him after a few moments.

"So, I didn't wake you up...?" I asked, seeing him look at me like I was a little nutts.

"I told you already, I didn't hear anything else, and I was probably the one that woke Kurama and Hiei up with my yelling about the smashing noise." He said, heading down the corridor towards the loungeroom. I slowly began to think on that, trying very hard not to see that image again. That was no nightmare, nothing remotely close to a nightmare ever looked like that, that was ... wrong, it was very wrong, but ... it didn't seem like a nightmare to me. I blinked in confusion as I was set on a chair carefully, seeing that I was placed in the kitchen of the house, and Kurama was standing about a meter away, going through a small box off medical supplies as Yusuke began to rummage through the cupboards for something. I felt Kurama glance at me intensely after a few moments, but I pretended not to notice as I looked down at my hands wearily. I could feel that I didn't get very much sleep, and there would be no hope in me getting any more sleep until I essentially collapsed from exhaustion. This was going to be a very long two weeks of remaining in this house.


	12. Shall We Say Bad Luck?

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWELVE: Shall We Say Bad Luck?**_

The hole in my hand wasn't anything bad, in fact, the only reason why it had started bleeding was because me using that hand to hold me up was just upsetting the injury, it was essentially healled, I could see that as I looked at it while Kurama rebandaged my hand for me, which made the possibility of my leg being healed more believeable to me, even though the speed of my healling defied all logic. I wasn't complaining however, the sooner I could move, and be out of this cast, the better. Yusuke just sat there eating away at a sandwich as he watched Kurama attend to my wrist, and I could feel my stomach churning at the smell of meat that was in the room. After several minutes, I could almost feel the dream fading to the back of my mind slowly, but it was still vividly there, noticeable enough for me to almost feel sickness at the fact.

"Well now, I suppose I had better start getting breakfast organised." I heard Kurama state as he pinned off the bandages, causing me to look at him from the countertop after a few moments.

"Great! What're we having?" Yusuke asked immediately, causing me to frown marginally – he just devoured a large sandwich and he's still hungry?

"I was thinking, probably Omlettes." Kurama answered after a few moments, causing me to try and stop the marginal look of illness from creeping onto my face with marginal success – Kurama wasn't looking at me, and Yusuke didn't notice, thankfully.

"Great! With bacon and sausages too?" Yusuke asked eagerly, and I felt my stomach lurch as I closed my eyes quickly, stamping out pictures of bleeding animals from my mind quickly before it would manifest into other things.

"You would have my head if I didn't cook that as well, Yusuke." Kurama commented with a slight chuckle after a few moments, and I slowly managed to open my eyes, staring down at the countertop in silence.

"Hey, Meia, you hungry?" I heard Yusuke ask, causing me to look at him immediately, a little too suddenly it seemed from the look that crossed his face as I looked at him.

"What?"

"You haven't had anything to eat for the past couple of days, have you, Meia?" I heard Kurama ask, causing me to look at him immediately.

"Uh, no." I said hesitantly after a few moments, seeing him smile after a moment.

"Well, how do you have your omlettes then? I'd assume you're probably hungry." He said, and I felt the sick feeling grow more intense suddenly – I hadn't had an appetite since I woke up.

"No, I'm not hungry, thanks anyway." I said quickly, and I saw shock cross both Yusuke's and Kurama's faces as I grabbed my crutches carefully and pulling myself from the chair, beginning to crutch my way out of the kitchen.

"What?! Not hungry?!" I heard Yusuke say in shock, narrowing my gaze on the floor as I heard someone coming down the stairs.

"Perhaps something may have offended her." I heard Kurama suggest, but I thought nothing on it, coming to a halt at the top of the stairs.

_Damn, I really didn't think this through. _I thought bitterly, sighing slightly as I told myself that I wasn't going to get back down the stairs just staring at the bottom floor all morning . I placed most of my weight on the railling that was on my left, and began hopping down the stairs carefully, managing to match someone that was just walking up them, but it wasn't without effort – I'd be damned if I would spend minutes just trying to get down the stairs. I felt a pair of eyes upon me as I got down to the bottom of the stairs, but I shrugged it off as I used my crutches to get to the door without problem, opening it and getting myself inside without any problem at all – I was always doing damage to my ankles, so I could hobble around on my own no problem, Getting up those stairs was going to be more problematic, but, I would manage. I chose the basement after all, so it was really my fault in a way. I wanted my seclusion, so I wasn't thinking of functionability while I had a broken leg. I heard somoething big and heavy suddenly start crashing down the stairs as I looked around the room, hearing a sudden yelp as I blinked and looked back at the door, hearing Kuwabara's voice begin to complain loudly, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Baka." I said, then began to hobble my way over to the desk, looking around slowly. My laptop, guitar and art folio was missing as I looked around. I began to wonder why, the missing items beginning to make me brood. _This is irritating._ I thought, glaring around the room before shifting over to the bookshelf, and managing to reach one of my manga, seeing that somehow Kuwabara had managed to put them back in the order I had them in my apartment. _What the?! _I thought, staring at the manga as I tried to figure out what was going on. That fool hadn't been in my apartment once apart from when they found me unconscious in the bathroom. How the hell did he know how I had my manga organised. I could feel this really beginning to eat at me, I forced it out of my mind as I grabbed a copy of a manga I wasn't even looking at, beginning to hobble over to the bed carefully. I looked down at the glass on the floor momentarily, only enough to make sure I didn't step on it at all. I was so tired of all of this, I just wanted to go to sleep and wake back up in my apartment again, finding that all of this was just some strange dream and that Kuwabara was some moron in my apartment building, and that Kurama was just plain Suichi that Motoko fancied. There was a knock at the door that dragged me out of my thoughts, causing me to look over nearly immediately.

"Door's unlocked." I said after a few moments, seeing the door open barely a few extra moments later. I didn't frown as I saw Kurama step into the room after a few moments, seeing him look at me from the mirror after a few moments – the broken mirror was beginning to get to him it seemed. I glanced at him from the manga I had opened and was now beginning to read – it was one of my less favorites, so I wasn't missing anything by not reading it.

"Meia, I was wondering if we said something that may have offended you." He said after a few moments, causing me to look at him properly after a few moments.

"No, not that I know of, why?" I asked curiously, seeing him smile wryly after a few moments.

"It just seemed that either Yusuke of myself had said something that may have upset you in the kitchen, or perhaps I'm being a little too presumptuous." He said, and I blinked as I watched him.

"You're being a little presumptious." I answered, seeing him nod slightly after a few moments.

"So are you coming up for breakfast, Meia?" He asked.

"Mmm, no thank you, I'll head up and grab something later If I want anything." I said after a few moments, looking back at my manga after a few moments. I didn't hear or see him begin to leave after a few moments, causing me to look back at him, and seeing him still with his gaze upon me. "Is there something wrong, Kurama?"

"Not at all." He said after a moment, a smile crossing his face after a few moments. "I can bring down a salad for you if you want." he said, that same smile still across his face. I just stared at him for a few moments, almost not comprehending how he had picked that out.

"I-I'm fine, seriously." You said quickly, then you saw Kurama nod slightly, that smile still across his face – it was obvious to both of us that he had hit the nail on the head, yes, I was a vegetarian, that didn't like eating eggs either. I tried very hard not to dwell on my reasonings for my eating habits as I saw Kurama lose the smile momentarily.

"Meia, I understand you don't know exactly what it is that we do here." Kurama began, and I saw him sit down on the edge of the bed after a few moments. "Kuwabara, Yusuke and myself are going to be gone this evening, we've got an assignment that we have to complete for Koenma." I nodded slightly, taking note of the fact that the toddler which I couldn't care less for was in charge of a lot of things. "Normally all of us would go and take on this assignment, but because of your ..."

"Incarceration." I said for him pretty bluntly, and he lost the smile he had at the word that I used.

"Agreement." He corrected me in a half hearted manner. "Someone has to stay behind to keep tabs of where you are, so Hiei will be staying behind to do that, since we can get the assignment done without his presence." I bit down on my rising dislike again, beginning to really really miss my little apartment now.

"So, that means you're not going to be here for what, a day? Two?" I asked cautiously, seeing Kurama smile wryly.

"Well, about two to three days, yes." Kurama answered, and I was cursing.

"Damn, so I've got no one to talk to until you's come back." I complained, deciding to glare down at my book.

"Well, you _could _attempt to talk to Hiei, but I'm certain you've already picked up on the fact that he's not exactly the friendly person." Kurama said, causing me to look back at him after a moment.

"Right, I might as well sit here all day and do nothing." I complained.

"I'm sorry. Unfortunately there's not much we can do when it comes to assignments that Koenma gives us." Kurama apologised, and I almost felt venomous.

"Stop apologising, the only person I want to murder is Koenma." I muttered under my breath.

"In any case, we will be leaving just after breakfast." Kurama said, getting to his feet. I remained silent as he headed back upstairs, beginning to brood. All I had to entertain myself was the manga that I had, DVD's, but I didn't have a laptop to watch them on, and to sit there all day and think. This was going to be _loads _of fun. I might as well just go back to bed and think all day.

_Think ... _I thought, staring down at the cover of the manga I had in my hands. _Why do I get the feeling I can't even think in this house? _I wondered, closing my eyes as I tried to figure out why. There had to be something, and the fact that I couldn't seem to pick it began to really, really eat at me. _What was it?! _ I wondered, and then I suddenly flinched as I realised why, my eyes snapping open almost instantly. _Oh God! That's Right! That guy might be a telepath! _I remembered that time in the infirmary when Hiei reacted to a thought or two of mine. _Damn it! I can't even think in this house without my thoughts being heard! This is going to kill me! _I shouted in my head, grapsing my head with both of my hands as I began to grow more than irritated. _I'm going to go insane by this evening! Damn it! I'm gonna die! Argh!!! _

---------------------------------------------

Kurama looked over at Hiei as he saw the black-clad being glare at the wall with venom, raising an eyebrow after a moment.

"What seems to be the matter now, Hiei?" Kurama asked, glancing away from Hiei to switch the frying pan onto a different flame on the stove.

"That Onna is going to be the end of me."

"How so?" Kurama asked curiously as Kuwabara stumbled down the stairs again before hitting the floor with a resounding 'thud'.

"She's doing nothing but causing me a headache." Hiei spat, and Kurama chuckled as he looked back to the stovetop.

"Then perhaps you should stop listening to her." Kurama suggested with an inward smile, and that smile grew as he felt Hiei glare at him.


	13. The Melancholy Of Meia Arisawa

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Melancholy Of Meia Arisawa**_

Yusuke stretched mid-stride as he, Kurama and Kuwabara stepped up the stairs to the house two days later, Kuwabara stifling a yawn as Kurama looked around the area. Their mission had gone without problem, and it was even possible to have left Kuwabara behind from the lack of requirement for a third person. The demon they had to bring to spirit world was weak, and she didn't even resist in the least. In fact, the demon probably would have voulenteered to be taken if she was given the chance to decide.

"About time we're back, I was about to fall asleep back there." Yusuke said, looking at Kurama as he chuckled slightly. "What?"

"It's nothing." Kurama said, pushing the front door open before entering the house. "I was just wondering how Hiei had coped with Meia."

"Huh? Hiei?" Yusuke repeated, and Kurama nodded. "Don't you mean Meia? Hiei's not the one that's stuck in this house all day crippled and with nothing to do." Yusuke replied, causing Kurama to smile wryly. Meia was indeed one of the most unlucky girls he had met in a long time, and it probably wouldn't do her too well being trapped in a house, metaphorically speaking, with Hiei. That probably made Meia's agreement with Koenma all the more worse for her.

"We're back!" Kuwabara called loudly as he walked into the house, only to suddenly yelp as he tripped over his feet and fell face first onto the floor. "What the--?!"

"Kuwabara, your left foot stays on the left side of your body, not the right." Yusuke said wearily, and Kuwabara threw a glare at him over his shoulder.

"I knew that!" Kuwabara retorted, and Kurama walked past with a chuckle as he began to head into the lounge room.

"Then don't trip over your feet next time!" Yusuke replied to Kuwabara in an exasperated manner, and Kuwabara began to curse in an incoherrent manner. Kurama looked over to the windowsill as he stifled a yawn himself, seeing much to his expectance, Hiei seated upon the windowsill, looking quite bored.

"Ah, I thought you'd be here." Kurama said, and Hiei looked over at him after a moment. "How did keeping an eye on Meia go? I expect she wasn't too much trouble."

"I haven't heard her since yesterday." Hiei replied simply, causing Kurama to frown slightly.

"But there was no trouble." Kurama stated, and he saw Hiei place his attention back to the scenery outside of the window.

"She hasn't come out of that room in two days." Hiei said in a short manner, which said that was the end of that topic. Kurama blinked momentarily, then began to head towards the stairs, hearing Kuwabara and Yusuke beginning to argue over something that was inside the refridgerator. He had rather hoped that Meia wouldn't have shut herself up in her room for the two days that he was away on the assignment, but clearly that's exactly what she _did _do in the time, which said that the girl hadn't eaten or anything, and he knew Hiei would have only stayed close enough to the house to keep a constant tab on where exactly Meia was, which was all that they were required to do.

Kurama came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs to the basement, seeing that the door to Meia's room was left open. He remained silent as he stepped to the door and knocked lightly, peering into the room. Nothing had been changed since last time he had seen the room, and he could see Meia seated at the desk against the opposite wall, which brought confusion over him.

"Come in." Came Meia's weary voice, causing Kurama to frown fractionally as he stepped into the room. Meia didn't look up at him as he approached, he could see something she had been writing while she had been seated there, but she was just sitting there with the side of her face against the desk top.

"How are you feeling today, Meia?" Kurama asked as he came to a stop just next to Meia, seeing her look up at him after a few moments.

"I'm alright, just tired." She said, a weary tone to her voice as she remained motionless.

"Perhaps you should get some sleep." Kurama suggested, and he raised an eyebrow as Meia merely shook her head marginally.

"Don't feel like it." She replied, causing Kurama to sigh slightly.

"I take it there were no problems while I was away." Kurama said, and he saw Meia lift her head off the table after a few moments, only to rest her head atop her arms as she folded them on the desktop.

"No, no problems." She replied simply.

"A case of the Melancholy I see." Kurama said, and Meia shrugged slightly.

"I just don't feel like doing anything." Meia replied, and Kurama just remained silent – it definitely was Melancholy from how Meia was acting.

"I was going to start organising Dinner, were you interested in anything?" Kurama asked, being careful not to mention anything to do with meat or eggs.

"Um, no thank you, I don't really want anything." Meia replied, causing Kurama to nod and begin to head back upstairs. "Hey, Kurama." He heard Meia ask as he grabbed hold of the door handle, causing him to look over at Meia after a moment.

"Was there something you wanted?" Kurama asked, seeing Meia remain motionless with her head still upon her arms.

"I was just ... wondering." She began after a few moments, Kurama taking his hand from the door after a few moments. "Would there be any chance ... for me to tell Motoko ... not to worry about me?"

"Worry about you?" Kurama repeated curiously. Meia shifted her head fractionally, but she didn't really move again.

"She over reacts when something is missing from her routeen life ... I'd expect Kuwabara to come back from college with a broken arm before long." Meia answered in that same weary tone, causing Kurama to think for a few moments.

"I shall pass the message on to Motoko tomorrow morning for you then." Kurama said, placing his hand back on the doorhandle after a few moments.

"Thank you, Kurama." Meia replied, causing Kurama to leave the room after a few moments.

"Yo! Kurama! What're we having for dinner?!" Came Yusuke's voice, causing Kurama to frown fractionally as he began to walk up the stairs.

"I was thinking Curry." Kurama answered as he got to the top of the stairs, seeing Yusuke standing a little further down the hallway with his hands folded behind his head.

"So how's Meia?" Yusuke asked, causing Kurama to smile slightly – Yusuke did seem to be fond of Meia, after so short a time especially.

"Quiet, I seriously doubt she will be all that plesant to be around, at least until her injuries have healed." Kurama answered, and Yusuke huffed slightly.

"Can't blame her. Koenma's got her all boxed up in here." Yusuke said, his gaze falling upon the stairs as a sudden yelp echoed, which caused Kurama to look over after a moment, seeing Kuwabara sliding down the stairs, and come to a halt at the bottom, a groan echoing as Kuwabara remained motionless. "Are you alright, Kuwabara? That's the third time you've done that this week." Yusuke said, and Kuwabara grunted as he crawled upright from his tangled mess.

"Ugh, just tired." Kuwabara grunted, and Yusuke frowned as Kurama merely smiled.

"I would suggest watching your feet, we don't need another person upset because they've got a broken leg." Kurama said, and Yusuke laughed as Kuwabara merely began to brood.

"It's not my fault, the stair's are just slippery." He complained, causing Kurama to begin to head towards the kitchen – if he remained ammusing himself, he'd not get dinner done.

"Hey, Kurama, reckon Pacifier breath'll start breathing fire if we drag Botan out here?" Yusuke asked, causing Kurama to look over at him after a moment.

"I'm not sure. It's possible he might allow it." Kurama said, and he saw Yusuke furrow his brow as he began to think, which allowed him to go back to organising dinner. "i'd ask Koenma before you do anything though, Yusuke."

"I know, I know." Yusuke said dismissively, glancing at the door as Kuwabara stumbled in. "You should really stop stumbling around like a drunken elephant, Kuwabara, you're going to end up smashing up the whole house."

"Great, you're more concerned about the house." Kuwabara seethed, and Yusuke smirked.

"Yeah, of course! It takes more than a few broken windows to kill you, moron." Yusuke said.

"WHAT?!" Kuwabara exclaimed, causing Kurama to smile slightly. Yes, having one of the girls come over to keep Meia company seemed like a very good idea. He'd rather have Motoko come up, but she was definitely out of the question. He had his suspicions in the foundations of the thought that Meia was dangerous, there was no proof that she was anything other than a human, apart from the feel of her eyes, that was the only visible thing that wasn't human that he knew, but that was a very subtle hint in itself. The smell of her blood seemed close to human as well, but, Kurama had his suspicions.

"Man, I'm beat, Pacifier breath better not have another job for us to do for another week!" Yusuke complained, flopping down onto the counter, which caused Kurama to look at him immediately.

"Like you've got it hard, you weren't the one that was used as bait to lure out that damn Leech Woman." Kuwabara grumbled from his seat at the table.

"If I had the energy, I'd come over there and hit you for that." Yusuke complained, and Kurama couldn't help but chuckle.

"If I didn't know better, I'd have thought you two had run around all day." Kurama said with a smile.

"Feels like it." Kuwabara grunted from his place.

"Ah! I thought you boys would be back by now!" Came a very familiar, bubbly voice after a few moments, and Kurama looked over at the door to see the blue haired grim reaper step into the house with a wide grin across her face.

"Botan! Go away! I'm too tired to deal with you right now!" Yusuke groaned from his face down seat, and Kurama saw Botan frown at Yusuke.

"That's just rude, Yusuke, and besides, I have a---"

"No Botan!" Yusuke shouted, sitting up from his slouched position to glare at the reaper, who blinked in shock. "Tell Pacifier breath he can jump in a lake!"

"Yusuke." Botan began sternly, but a pulling at the corner of her mouth said that she was about to smile. "The job is for _Hiei, _I was going to ask if you knew where he was." Botan explained, then she suddenly burst out into a fit of laughter.

"I thought as much." Kurama said with a smile, Yusuke beginning to glare at Botan as Kuwabara just stared at the spectacle with a glazed look in his eyes. "It seemed rather inconsiderate that he would have another job for us to do after we reported back to him not an hour ago."

"Yes, but bone-head Yusuke wouldn't have thought of that!" Botan chimed, and Yusuke threw her a glare. "And how is Meia going? I can't imagine she would be doing too well being locked in this house alone with Hiei for three days straight."

"A case of melancholy, I'm afraid." Kurama said, and Botan nodded in understanding.

"Hey, Botan?" Yusuke said in a slight drawl after a moment, causing Botan to look at him in confusion, only to begin to grow concerned as Yusuke had a smirk on his face.

"What? Have I got something on my face?" Botan asked curiously, and Yusuke's smirk grew more intense.

"I need a favor." Yusuke began, a grin creeping across his face as Botan blinked, and Kurama chuckled to himself. He could already see what was on Yusuke's mind.

------------------------------------------

I stared down at the papers on the desk my head was resting upon, my eyes blury from sleep, and my eyelids were heavy. My broken leg twinged painfully as I shifted it slightly, resting it in a better position so the blood flow would be better than having my knee bent. My head throbbed with pain as I tried to blank my mind, but it didn't help in the least, my mind was empty consciously, but subconsciously was another thing entirely.

Those silver eyes had haunted me ever since that dream, and every time I closed my eyes I saw them flasn in my mind.

Rather reluctantly, I gave in to the objections my eyes were giving in response to keeping my eyes open, and I closed my eyes slowly. Almost as if on cue, those silver eyes were in my minds eye, those malicious eyes that made me feel near physically sick.

"Netami ..." I whispered, feeling tense slumber begin to set in as I grit my teeth and bared that plague-like image to allow my body some rest, even though rest was the last thing I wanted.


	14. CastSaw And A Question Of Bones

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Cast-Saw And A Question Of Bones**_

"I know it's uncomfortable, but try not to move." Ritsuko said gently as I remained seated upon the bed, my eyes glued to the door over the Shade Demon's shoulder as I heard the sound of the cast-saw souding painfully, grinding away at the cast as I kept my mind away from the saw. Uncomfortable was an understatement, even if I wasn't overly wary of the thought that the saw would go straight through the plaster and into my leg, the plaster, despite the fact that it had helped mend my leg, the grainy texture to the plaster just scratched away at my leg.

I never had very good experiences with people removing casts for me, the last woman that did it for me fumbled with the saw and put a nice, deep little incision through my heel. Not only was I cursed to using crutches for another two weeks, but I had to deal with the woman stitching my foot closed again as well.

Of course, I had to give Ritsuko the benefit of the doubt, she wasn't a stupid human nurse.

I only placed my gaze back to my leg as I felt the cast begin to split in half on it's own, hearing the cast-saw turn silent as I felt relief overcome me. I was feeling a little better, but I was still very much under the weather. That wouldn't change until I was free to actually do whatever I wanted.

"Well now, it looks like your leg healed nicely, considering the state it was in when you were attacked in here." Ritsuko said, causing me to nod slightly – apart from the wire pieces in my leg that were placed to hold the fragments in place, my leg looked very normal, thank goodness. "Now, this will hurt, but, if I give you any pain killers to take, you're going to be out of it for a while, and I know how much you just want to move freely." Ritsuko said, eyeing me with a slight smile. Oh she was making it seem like the return of my ability to walk and run was no big deal, but oh no, this was my _freedom _coming back to me, well, a fragment of my freedom in any case. One step to freedom! I only nodded in agreement with Ritsuko's statement, seeing her grab a pair of pliers from the tray on the bed, causing me to gulp. Pliers equalled bad, I knew _exactly _what she was going to do with them.

"Okay." Ritsuko said as she grabbed onto one of the wire rods with the pliers, sending a sharp jolt of pain up my leg. "This is going to have to be slow, considering your bones are brittle. Normally we can just pull them out quickly, but I don't want to break your ankle for you." She said. I only nodded in acknowledgement, biting down on my lip as I saw her place her attention to my leg again. She began to pull the wire out steadily, and I had to bite down on my lip more as the searing pain ran up my leg, feeling a hard pulling against my ankle as the wire slowly began to come out. I let out a breath as Ritsuko pulled the wire out cleanly, and my leg began to bleed – no wonder why. There was now a small hole in my leg. "One down, eight more to go." Ritsuko breathed, looking at my face after a moment. "Next one." she said, grabbing onto the next wire after a few moments, and I managed to stop myself from gasping as the same pain shot through my leg again.

"Damn, I hate my brittle bones!" I gasped out as Ritsuko pulled out the fourth wire from my leg, seeing her smile wryly – there was a lot of blood on the bed now.

"I don't blame you." Ritsuko said, and I couldn't help but smirk at that remark, only to cringe as she began to pull out another wire. I didn't look away from the bed sheets as I heard the door open.

"That looks painful." Came Kurama's voice after a few moments, but I said nothing.

"Unfortunately, from the type of wire rod's we had to use for this, it is _excruciating._" Ritsuko said with certainty, glancing at Kurama as she pulled another wire rod from my ankle that time. I couldn't stifle the gasp of pain that time, and I saw Kurama look at me instantly as he stepped over cautiously. "The blood's just from pulling the rod's out. They'll heal within a couple hours once I put the dressing on." Ritsuko said, more to me than anyone else, which provided some relief, but I'd leave the bandage on just in case they didn't heal as fast as Ritsuko said.

"That's still a fair amount of blood considering, how many rods are you pulling out?" Kurama asked curiously, and Ritsuko glanced at him from my ankle as she began to pull another from the front.

"I had nine." I said quietly, cringing as Ritsuko pulled the rod out. Kurama looked a little pained at the sight of how slow and steady Ritsuko pulled the remaining rods out. She stopped on the last one that was straight through my ankle at an odd angle, looking up at me after a moment.

"This one is going to be th--"

"Just get it over with." I hissed, feeling a stronger jolt of pain run through my leg as she grabbed that rod. The pain in my leg only grew more intense as I remained motionless, my hands closing around fistfulls of the material as I shut my eyes and bit down on my lip, tasting the metalic taste of my blood as I accidentally bit through the inside of my lip. I felt something similar to a slight pop sensation run through my leg as that wire came free of my ankle, and my eyes widened as I saw what that wire was – it was twice the thickness of the other rods, and it had metal grooves in it, very much like a screw, which explained the far more severe pain. I could see Kurama's eyes wide as he stared at the rod as Ritsuko set it down on the tray carefully.

"Okay, now hopefully your leg isn't too weakened." Ritsuko began, carefully grabbing my ankle, and pressing her hand to the bottom of my foot. "The idea is to try and keep your foot still against the pressure, alright?" Ritsuko said, and I reluctantly obeyed, feeling Ritsuko beginning to try and move my foot in it's joints, but for some strange reason she appeared to be having difficulty. She then began to pull on my foot, and I made sure I didn't let her move it, seeing a perplexed look across her face as she set my foot back on the bed. I moved my foot on the bed as Ritsuko began to think, a slight smile crossing my face as I felt that my foot was nearly as good as new, a little tender if anything, but I was probably able to walk out of here. I raised an eyebrow as Ritsuko grabbed my other ankle. "Just humor me." She said, and I reluctantly obeyed. I felt her place her hand to the bottom of my foot, focusing my attention to keeping my ankle locked. I blinked in shock as I felt my foot bend back a few moments after Ritsuko began to work.

"What the--?" I said, looking at my other ankle. I broke that one! Not the one that Ritsuko had, so my ankle should not have been outdone by my just repaired one. I felt Ritsuko then pull against my ankle and the same thing happened – my ankle caved and went straight, which completely flawed me.

"I think I know what your bone problem is." Ritsuko said, and I blinked in shock, looking at her with a curious look across my face. Hey, if she had a way to fix my fragile body, then I was all for it, hell, I might not break my ankle over stepping backwards from a cursed kitten again.

"Really? Just from how strong her ankles are?" Kurama asked, clearly intrigued from the tone of curiosity in his voice.

"The dressing that we used against the original injury was a normal seallant based mixture, but when we had to reset your cast, we had to use a different dressing to help speed up the repair." Ritsuko began to explain, looking at me from a glance at Kurama. "It's a combination of the original dressing along with a high-dose of vitamine D, calciim, magnesium, phosphate, silica, boron, sulphur and phosphorus, not to mention traces of several other elements." Ritsuko looked at Kurama momentarily. "The sudden increase in your bone stability, Meia, says that your bones are lacking in the normal elements that nearly everyone has." She hesitated before finishing the sentence, a look across her face which made me begin to not like where this conversation was going.

"And that means what?" I asked, seeing a look of comprehension across Kurama's face, but that was still mingled with curiosity.

"Meia, for your bones to be _this _frail and brittle, it takes many years of sun deprivation, as well as lack of movement, and your blood is lacking in many minerals. It's amazing that your bones haven't all snapped in two, especially since you've probably got a severe case of rickets too." Rickets, that was soft bones, i'm was of it, though I would have to double check my medical knowledge. I put a mental note to ask Kurama to borrow a library book so I could check up on it.

"And?" I asked, my eyes narrowing on Ritsuko. It was clear she wasn't finished, and Kurama was now watching me without a shift in gaze.

"Meia, what exactly had you been doing for the first half of your life?" Ritsuko asked, and I felt a snap of frustration.

"Nothing that wasn't _normal_." I said acidicly, seeing her blink at my sudden change in mood.

"I didn't mean anything by it." Ritsuko said quickly, grabbing a little jar of clear paste from the tray on the bed, causing me to sigh inwardly as I realised she was dropping the subject. And of course Kurama was still watching me intently. It was as if he was trying to read exactly why I didn't want to answer. The paste was cold and icky feeling, but I said and did nothing as I placed my attention on the wall a little to my right, feeling the slight sting of the paste sinking into the holes in my leg. Oh I just wanted to be out of here and away from all of these people! I wanted my life back!

"That should do that some good. Could you lift your foot up?" Ritsuko asked, and I obliged – if this would speed up the process, then I was all for it. I watched as Ritsuko began to bandage my leg tightly, feeling the icky cold of the paste begin to squish out of the bandages, but I was guessing that was supposed to happen as I saw Ritsuko merely wipe away the excess with a cloth, then return to bandaging.

"Well, you'll be able to come with me out of the house now, Meia." I heard Kurama say, causing me to look at him. I hadn't thought about that at all, and I felt a slight softening of my glare as I thought about it. Of course, I could actually go outside the house now.

"But she still shouldn't walk too much, her leg's only been out of the cast for a few minutes." Ritsuko cut in, and I frowned slightly. That just put a dampener on my happy outlook considerably, Kurama would enforce that little part.

"Of course." Kurama said, causing me to frown slightly.

"There, it's done." Ritsuko said, allowing me my leg back. I sighed internally as I pulled my leg back, crossing my legs carefully after a moment, and smiling slightly. I was finally able to sit comfortably where I was. "But we'll have to work on fixing your bones for you."

"And how would one go about doing that?" Kurama asked, and Ritsuko turned to him. That suited me fine, I sat there and began to think to myself.

"Well, since Meia doesn't want to tell us anything, the best way to go about it would be diet. She will have to have fish, chicken and beef, eggs and --"I flinched as I heard her begin to list off all of the things I would not touch, barely managing to stop my stomach from lurching as I snapped my gaze up to Ritsuko.

"What?!" I said immediately, seeing her look at me in surprise.

"You will have to excuse Meia." Kurama said warmly to Ritsuko, causing the shade demon to look at him immediately. "She happens to be a vegetarian for reasons I won't ask about."

"Well that's a problem." Ritsuko said, glancing at me as I watched intently. They were plotting my demise, I could almost say with certainty that it was the case. "Unless Meia is fine with many, many needles and injections, the diet is the easiest way to fix her bones without putting her whole body in a cast for a week." I grimmaced – I'd sooner die than let them put me in a whole-body cast! There was no way they were going to do that!

"I'll take the nee--"

"Meia." Kurama said, looking at me after a moment. "I'm sure you're not thinking of the same needles that Miss Ritsuko is talking about." I raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" I asked simply, and he nodded. "How so?"

"I suppose it would be best if I showed you." Ritsuko said wearily, then I saw her turn to the cupboard and open it, beginning to go through the contents. I glanced at Kurama suspiciously, then looked back to Ritsuko as I saw his expression remain simply observant. I was expecting, you know, the normal looking needle, the one with the very fine point at the small measuring container, but this was ... scary! I almost recoiled back as I saw Ritsuko pull out a three pronged needle, which looked like it had blunt needles, and it looked, ghastly! I almost leant back on the bed at that moment. "The round of injections, Meia, is four doses of minerals from _this_." She said, sitting the needle on the tray and looked at me. "That's just the first dose, you'll end up being kept in here for a week to two, and of course, you'll be conscious for most of the time.

"You're all plotting my demise!" I said childishly, crossing my arms and beginning to glower, hearing Kurama chuckle at my childishness. Oh that needle looked like a deathtrap!

"It would probably be best for Meia to think about it for a day or so before making a decision about this." Kurama said, and I nodded once,

"Alright. I want Meia in here in two days to check up on her leg again." Ritsuko said, grabbing the tray from the bed and beginning to walk off.

"Well, shall we go?" Kurama asked, and I only nodded my head, shifting myself to the edge of the bed and carefully lowering myself onto my left leg, I felt Kurama watching me as I slowly put weight on my right leg, feeling only the tiniest twinge of pain, but it didn't buckle or anything, which allowed me to stand up properly, pulling the leg of my jeans down to cover the bandages. "I know you don't appreciate Koenma at the moment, but we do have to go to see him to acutally get a portal back to the house." Kurama said, and I scowled slightly, beginning to take a step, but I felt a slight pain in my leg, which caused me to frown. Obviously my leg just wasn't used to walking after the break yet. I was about to reach for my crutches, but Kurama beat me to them, passing me the two walking impliments and keeping an eye on me in case I were to suddenly fall. I closed my eyes momentarily as I began to make my way out of the infirmary, seeing Kurama begin to lead the way.

Before long we were outside Koenma's door, Kurama giving me a glance before pushing the door open and stepping in. Koenma was seated behind his desk, looking up at Kurama and myself as the door closed behind me.

"Oh, how did the removal of the cast go?" Koenma asked, looking at Kurama from me as I didn't answer, remaining with a straight face was the most I could do.

"As expected, Koenma, completely healed." Kurama said for me, much to my relief.

"Ah, I see. Well then, I'm assuming you both want to head back." Koenma said, and I saw Kurama nod from the corner of my eye. It was a few moments before the whooshing of the portal met my ears, and I saw Kurama turn to the wall behind us, causing me to look around as well.

"After you." Kurama said, causing me to frown fractionally, however I obliged, crutching through the portal with the fractional frown still across my face. The portal, after the initial turbulence of air, lead me to the grounds outside of the house, and for the first real time, I was able to look around without the hindrance of my broken leg, spotting a lake several meters away from where I was standing. I began to look around, hearing Yusuke and Kuwabara step out of the house.

"Hey limpy!" Yusuke called, and I looked over, seeing him grinning broadly at me as Kuwabara walked around sleepily, a bowl of cerial in his hands, and he was scooping up air and eating it, clearly he was still very much asleep.

"Don't call me that!" I said bitterly, hearing Yusuke burst into laughter as Kuwabara tripped and fell down the porch stairs, bowl of cerial landing on top of his head as he fell into a faceplant on the lawn.

--------------------------

"She's still mad, isn't she?" Kurama heard Koenma ask as he was about to step through the portal, causing him to look back at the toddler leader.

"To be perfectly honest, Koenma, you can't expect her to be at all pleased with the situation." Kurama began, seeing Koenma nod slightly. "In her point of view, the _only _thing she has even had consultation about was which room in the house she was being given."

"I know that." Koenma said quietly, and Kurama frowned fractionally.

"I'm not going to say I agree with how you approached her on the situation, but clearly you did what you had to, but we're not the ones that had the carpet of life torn out from under our feet. We're not the ones that have been forced into a corner with nowhere else to go." Kurama saw Koenma nod slightly, and decided to end the conversation there, turning back to the portal and beginning to walk out again.

"Do you think she will forgive me?" Koenma asked, and Kurama had to force back the glare that crept over his face as he looked back at the toddler ruler.

"It's far too soon to even be thinking of that, Koenma sir, just be grateful that she is sitting through with the agreement that she was forced into." Kurama said, then stepped through before Koenma had the chance to say anything else.


	15. 3, 2, 1 Surprise!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: 3, 2, 1 ... Surprise!**_

I breathed in a deep breath of fresh air as I made my way over to the lake akwardly, the crisp scent of morning dew and forest filling my nose. It had been too long since I had been outside, though I wasn't too big a fan of sunlight, I missed fresh air. I looked around the area slowly, seeing that the lake stretched out to about five hundred meters circumference, and it was dark in the middle. It made me want to suddenly leap into the water, but I knew that was not such a smart thing considering how cold the water would be, and my ankle was not ready for overuse yet.

"So, how's it feel to be missing that god forsaken cast?" Yusuke asked as he sat down on the porch carefully, causing me to look over at him. I had almost forgotten that he and Kuwabara were standing right there, but it made sense. I wasn't allowed out of their sights anyway, it wasn't like I was going to be anywhere without one of the four being within speaking range of me anyway.

"Calming." I replied simply, looking down at my feet after a moment, smiling slightly at the fact that now my right ankle was only in bandages. Only a few days until I could run around again.

"I can imagine, you can torture Kuwabara when your foot's a bit better." Yusuke said, smirking at Kuwabara as he blinked sleepily.

"I might leave that for a day where I need the cheering up." I looked up at the portal as Kurama stepped through after a few moments, a small smile across his face as he looked at me.

"I see you're enjoying the fresh air." Kurama commented, and I nodded fractionally, though it was a little obvious that I was enjoying the fact that I was now outside, I essentially was standing in the shallows of the lake, my good foot was in ankle deep water at that moment.

"You took your time, what'd Pacifier breath want this time?" Yusuke asked curiously as he looked at Kurama, causing me to place my attention back to the water. Oh I was trying very hard not to leap into the water at that moment.

"Nothing too important." Kurama answered as I began to make my way around the edge of the lake.

"Oi! Where do you think you're going!?" Came Yusuke's voice after a few moments, causing me to come to a halt after a moment and reluctantly turn to look at Yusuke. "You're not allowed to go too far! Remember?!" I exhaled deeply, and reluctantly began to make my way back to the house. I was only doing a lap around the lake, it wasn't like I was going to really be getting anywhere on a pair of crutches, cast or no cast, I was still horrendously slow.

"Come now, Yusuke. I doubt Meia was going too far." Kurama said to Yusuke, and I only watched as I continued to make my way back over, seeing Kuwabara merely sitting on the steps with his chin resting on his hands, flakes of corn puffs still scattered through his hair – he really needed to go have a shower, the moron didn't seem to realise he had actually got milk and cerial through his hair even, but ... how?!

"I know, but you never know, pacifier breath's old man could have put someone sitting out in the forest waiting to murder her." I heard Yusuke reply, and I felt a sting of futility hit me.

"I'm sure that's not the case." Kurama replied, and I frowned fractionally.

"So what's on the agenda now?" I asked after a few moments, seeing Kurama and Yusuke look at me immediately – Kuwabara was off in his own little world it seemed, though I couldn't blame him, he was up all night for some reason. Something to do with college catch-up, he said. I was envious, he could _leave _the house. "Are you all leaving for three days straight again?" I frowned even more as I saw Yusuke grin at me broadly.

"Nope!" He said with that same grin across his face, and I raised an eyebrow as I watched him.

"Why're you grinning?" I asked suspiciously, and that grin, much to my displeasure, grew only more intense.

"No reason, you've just gotta put up with us today." He said, and I frowned even more.

"Meaning what?" I asked immednately, my brow furrowing as he just continued to grin.

"A little birdy told me that you had a laptop and a guitar that was needing to be returned to you." He hinted, and I frowned properly.

"A little birdy." I repeated in a bitter tone of voice, seeing him just nod with the same grin. I was not understanding this one at all, he seemed to get stranger every day.

"Motoko gave us your laptop and guitar to give back to you. Said you left them there last time you were there." Kuwabara said groggily, and I blinked in sudden horror – Kuwabara was making more sense than Yusuke! I blinked for several moments, then I suddenly snapped to realisation.

"So _that's _where they were! I've been wondering where they were!" I said immediately, a slight smile across my face as I began to head inside. I was already itching to be reunited with my guitar after three seconds of knowing that they had been brought back. I could hear Yusuke beginning to laugh after a few moments, but I only frowned, beginning to head through the hallway, catching the tiniest glimpse of Hiei seated upon the windowsill of the loungeroom from the corner of my eye. I glanced over, feeling a slight pull at me – I wanted to at least say hello once, but I had the sneaky suspicion that he would rather not look at me, though I couldn't fathom as to why that was. I stopped half way down the hallway, frowning slightly before turning around and beginning to hobble back towards the front door, where the three were still situated upon the porch. "Hey! Where'd you put them?" I called, seeing Kurama look over as I came to a stop just at the door, Yusuke still laughing as Kuwabara slumped backwards so he was lying on the floor of the porch.

"We returned your belongings to your room, Meia, rather than having them placed in the loungeroom where Kuwabara will probably break them." Kurama said, and I looked at Kuwabara before nodding in thanks and beginning to leave. What was going on? Yusuke's acting weird, and Kuwabara's just in Harmless Zombie mode. It was beginning to annoy me. However there wasn't anything for me to do, so I just placed my thoughts back onto my guitar and began to head for my room. True, my guitar and laptop were safer in my room, but it still meant a staircase I had to hop down before I could so much as even look at them.

"Damn it!" I cursed as I began to hop down the stairs, hearing Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara begin to enter the house after a few moments. "All of these steps just to get to my guitar, not fun."  
I complained under my breath, feeling a wave of relief hit me as I reached the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I arranged my crutches carefully, placing my weight on one of them as I used my free hand to turn the door handle, and I swore as my keys fell out of my pocket and to the floor.

"MEIA!" Someone suddenly screamed in the moment that the door had swung open. I almost leapt out of my skin right then and there, snapping my gaze straight up instantaniously. The only thing that I had managed to see was a sudden blur of bronze and yellow come right for me.

"What the--?!" I exclaimed, then gasped as a sudden force of weight suddenly slammed right into my front, and I was sent falling backwards. I gasped as my back hit the hard wood of the floor a split second later, and my head cracked into the hard wood as the weight fell on top of me, and my breathing was non-existent as my eyes watered from the pain. The weight was still on top of me, and I could hear something that resembled a maniac laughter as my eyesight cleared from the fuzzy white blurs that had appeared when I hit my head. My body was pained, apart from my cast-less ankle, and my crutches seemed to have disappeared.

"Meia, Meia! I missed you!" Came an insanely giggling voice as I managed to direct my gaze to the force that had knocked me over _and _scared me half to death, seeing a young woman my age sit up and grin at me hugely. I blinked. She was a slender woman with a very bronze complexion. She had green eyes and blonde hair that was cut very short. She was wearing a yellow tank top and black minishorts. Her face was very gentle in appearance, and she was a bit taller than me – by about half a head.

"M-Motoko?!" I gasped out in sudden horror, hearinig her beginning to giggle madly. Motoko, here?! I must have gone insane or something! Koenma had told me that the only four people I was allowed to associate with in this world is the four spirit dete-- "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?!" I exclaimed as I cut off my train of thought, and I heard a sudden outburst of laughter from up the stairs. I snapped my gaze over immediately, seeing Yusuke and Kurama standing at the top of the stairs, and looking down at me, Yusuke laughing his usual laughter as Kurama smiled. My eyes narrowed on Yusuke as I saw that the strange grin was back to normal. "You _knew _about this?!" I demanded a split second later, and I heard Motoko giggle slightly, though I knew she wasn't paying too much attention to Yusuke or me at that very moment.

"Thought you'd like to have a bit of company for a while!" Yusuke said with his cheshire grin, causing me to gape at him. "Later Meia!" He added, then he and Kurama turned and left the top of the stairs.

"What the--?! When the--?!" I managed to choke out, still staring at the top of the stairs. I didn't even look away from the stairs as I heard Motoko giggle again.

"Meia!" She suddenly squealed, and I felt my eyes nearly pop out of my skull as she suddenly leapt at me and threw her arms around my neck, sending me falling straight back to the floor with a dull 'thud'.

"_Damn it Motoko!"_ I exclaimed, glaring down at the seemingly insane girl as she clung to me and continued to giggle. "Stop doing that! You trying to kill me or something?!" I demanded, and she laughed as she released me, sitting upright and placing a hand behind her head to scratch the back of her neck lightly.

"No, I'm just so happy to see you! You had me worried sick all month!" She said, a sheepish grin across her face. I blinked, staring at her for a few moments before I dragged myself upright.

"What's the date?" I asked curiously, and I saw Motoko blink momentarily, her hands going to her lap after a moment, then she started scratching her cheek with her fingertips as she wrapped her other hand around her waist – this girl was just so fidgety on a normal basis!

"It's August the third, I _think~_!" She said, and I blinked, waiting for her to be sure of herself. "Yeah, we're the third, and you've been gone for a little over a month."

"What?!" I exclaimed, and Motoko smiled sheepishly. "It can't have been a month! What the--"

"Meia, didn't Kaji chew you out over that essay you wrote about that video game you love before you disappeared?" Motoko asked in her sickly sweet tone of voice, causing me to frown slightly.

"Oh yeah, that's right. He was gonna ask me why I wrote about the psychology in a horror game." I frowned even more. "Help me up, I can't move very well." I told Motoko, and she giggled, grabbing me by the wrist and dragged me to my feet so suddenly that I almost fell straight back over.

"Man, you're as light as a feather, what've you been _doing _with yourself?" Motoko asked, and I frowned at her, trying to locate my crutches, and seeing them lying on the floor next to the door, along with my keys.

"Damn it." I cursed, managing to crouch down on one foot and grab the items, seeing Motoko suddenly look horrified.

"You're on crutches again?!" She exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, you knocked me off them when you tackled me." I said bitterly, and I saw her suddenly look a little dumbfounded.

"Really?! But I didn't see any crutches before." She said, and I scowled.

"Seeing me on crutches is second nature to you, you don't notice anymore." I said, pocketing my keys, then I reached down to recover the crutches. "Right, now how the hell did you _get _here?" I asked, frowning even more as I saw Motoko grin broadly.

"That's a secret! Shuichi told me it wouldn't be good if I told anyone!" She sung, causing me to almost glare at her.

"Shuichi told you huh? And if Yusuke had of told you instead?" I asked suspiciously,

"I still wouldn't tell!" Motoko sung, and my eyes narrowed upon her.

"Yeah, right. That's almost as believable as you never trying to break Kuwabara's arm." I said simply, and Motoko smiled sheepishly as she watched me make my way into my room. "Now where's my guitar! I've been missing it!"

"It's on the bed!" Motoko sung as she watched me hobble into the room. "I hope you're going to sing for me! It's been so long since I've heard you sing!"

"No!" I said with snap as I glanced to glare at her as she followed me into the room, a grin across her face as she closed the door behind her.


	16. Hymn Of The Broken Silence

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Hymn Of The Broken Silence**_

"Come _on _Meia! Play me one song! Just one!" Motoko's voice rung through the room, causing a noticeable frown to cross my face as I stared at the woman with an edge of bitterness to my thoughts. There was the sound of someone sniggering over at the bookshelf, but I forced all acknowledgements of them even existing from my mind all together. Every second word was song, play, guitar, she just wouldn't let it drop! I could only frown at her now, words meant nothing once she started going on and on about me playing a song. "Please! Pretty Please?" She pleaded, and I could see she was beginning to start the whole kitten eyes as she went down on her knees.

"I hate Kittens at the moment, you start that and I _will _kill you." I said bitterly, and I saw Motoko blink in sudden confusion.

"You hate kittens? Since _when?!" _She suddenly demanded, and I rolled my eyes.

"I broke my leg avoiding the event of stepping on one that _somehow _appeared in my _once _existent apartment!" I hissed, and I threw a glare over at the human that was staring at the bookshelf.

"Hmm? Why do I feel a glare on my ..." Kuwabara began, but then as he turned around, he suddenly paled as he saw my face. "Uh, oh. Right, the _kitten!_" He huffed, and my glare intensified.

"Said the previous caretaker of the said _kitten! _Where is the little furball, I've got a giant skewer waiting for it." I said bitterly, and Kuwabara's eyes suddenly widened.

"I think I'm glad Riku's taken him back." Kuwabara said, and my glare intensified.

"So should the rotten furball!" I said sharply.

"Man~! You really don't like kittens anymore!" Motoko said, and I glared at her.

"That's right. The stupid furball ruined my life." I said bitterly, and Motoko blinked suddenly.

"Ruined your life ...?" She repeated slowly, and I rolled my eyes. There was a knock at the door several moments later, and I raised an eyebrow as Mokoto suddenly jumped up on the spot with a huge grin across her face.

"What's up with you?" I asked Motoko curiously, then I called 'Come in' to the door, seeing Kurama open the door with a smile as I looked around. I raised my eyebrow even more as I surveyed him for a few moments, then looked straight back at Motoko, guessing that the damned girl was psychic from her huge grin still across her face, although, I don't think Kuwabara would pick up on the _obvious _fact that Kurama had an admirer. Yusuke popped his head through the door after a few moments, and I rolled my eyes as I looked at him, he was looking at Kurama with a huge Cheshire grin.

"What're you grinning so moronicly for?" I asked Yusuke suspiciously, though I had a very good idea on what Yusuke was grinning about. He looked at me immediately, and his huge Cheshire grin changed to a normal grin.

"We'd better get Moko back to town before pacifier breath finds out, Meia." Yusuke said, and I raised an eyebrow after a moment.

"Why? Didn't that ..." I began, but trailed off as a look of shock began to creep over my face at the rather cheeky grin Yusuke often wore crept over his face. "What in the hell--"

"He's all the way up in Spirit world for crying out loud. How's he gonna bloody well find out?"

"By standing behind you, quite ingenious, wouldn't you say?" Yusuke suddenly yelped and leapt across the room over to where I was as soon as those words had come, revealing the toddler ruler himself standing in the doorway, in his teenager form as I saw from the height of him. A rather mischievous grin was across his face at the pure alarm across Yusuke's face, and I just stared.

"HOW--WHEN IN THE HELL DID YOU GET THERE?!" Yusuke shouted from his spot on the floor just at my feet, his eyes as wide as saucers as he sat and pointed at Koenma as if he was trying to point out a scary ghost that no one apart from him was seeing at that moment.

"Two minutes ago." Koenma said, then he looked at Motoko and me. I could feel my bitterness beginning to creep in – I was going to start to hear the lecture, and probably the punishment if not being reprimanded for breaking my agreement, apparently. It wasn't even my fault! "Since Yusuke decided to be a complete moron like usual, I know this wasn't _your _doing." Koenma said to me, and I blinked. "However, Yusuke will have to face punishment if he decides to go against orders and bring innocents into this."

"Come _on _Koenma! It's not that big a deal!" Yusuke groaned, and I blinked again.

"I will let it slide this time." He said, then he began to leave the house. "There isn't anything in this world that I don't know about, I suggest you remember that!" Koenma called back, and I blinked yet again. What in the hell was going on now? I was expecting to get crucified to the cross or something of the similar elements.

"Man, Pacifier Breath's a uptight brat."

"Why do you call him pacifier breath?" Motoko asked curiously, and I paled slightly. If I even said something of the like, it was going to be problematic, from the sounds of it, no humans were supposed to know about Demons and all that unless it was a dire emergency.

"What?! Pacifier breath cause of the damn pacifier!" Yusuke said immediately, staring at Motoko like she had gone insane.

"But he didn't have one." Motoko said, raising an eyebrow at Yusuke as he suddenly paled. I blinked for a few moments, then I frowned slightly.

"Motoko, you're being spacey again." I said bitterly, and I frowned even more as she laughed suddenly.

"Well, I suppose we had best get you back home Motoko, before more trouble befalls us." Kurama said, and I frowned even more.

"I guess." Motoko complained, and I rolled my eyes.

"Can I come with for a walk?" I asked after a few moments, seeing Kurama look at me for a few moments.

"It wouldn't hurt. I was going to do some shopping anyway. You can accompany me on that." Kurama said after a moment with a smile, and I grinned.

"Huh? What do you mean it wouldn't hurt?"

"You appear to have forgotten, Yusuke. Meia just needs one of us to accompany her at all times, and she is not allowed to talk to anyone other than the four of us. That doesn't forbid her from accompanying one of us when we head downtown." Kurama explained, and Yusuke's face went blank for a few moments. "In any case, you might want to pick yourself up off of Meia's crutches, I believe she will be requiring them before long."

"Oh, right." Yusuke said, then he picked himself up off the floor, revealing that he had in fact been sitting on top of my crutches – I didn't even notice. "Hey, wasn't Kuwabara in here a few minutes ago?" Yusuke asked, and I looked over at the bookshelf after a few moments. Kuwabara was still here, yes, but he was strangely silent. I blinked, seeing that he was standing completely still, appearing to be holding something in his hands. I smirked after a few moments as a thought appeared in my head, managing to get onto both my feet and I began to limp over to where the human was standing, seeing much to my expectance, that Kuwabara was holding one of my manga in his hands. I leant over and peered at the manga over his elbow, and I smirked as I saw that he had one of my most horrific manga in his hands, and he was so engrossed in it, that he couldn't even see me standing right next to him. In fact, I seriously doubted he knew that Koenma had been and gone. I stared up at him for a few moments, then I took a pace back before using my mostly healed leg to kick his feet out from under him. Kuwabara suddenly shrieked in complete fright, leaping back several meters and colliding into the wall with a loud 'thunk'. Almost instantly Motoko and Yusuke burst out into hysterical laughter as I grinned and Kurama chuckled.

"Kuwabara, you should know better than to stand around reading manga and not keep your wits about you, otherwise you'll get attacked." I smirked, and he suddenly glared at me.

"That was uncalled for!" Kuwabara snapped, and I smirked again.

"Says who?" I asked, and he began to glower.

"Come on, we had best get Motoko back home before Koenma returns." Kurama sasid, and I rolled my eyes, hobbling over to my crutches and retrieving them, seeing Motoko get to her feet from the corner of my eye.

"I'm gonna visit again when this stupid two week thing is over and done with." Motoko said bitterly, and I huffed slightly – I was going to have a friend that was going to absolutely infuriate many people before a month was up after my release of the stupid agreement.

"I'm sure more than one person will end up wanting you to drown before long." I said bitterly, and Motoko giggled at my 'hint' of sarcasm.

"But after I drowned, you'd feel miserable." She retorted, and I rolled my eyes as I began to hobble my way out of the room.

"Onwards to freedom!" I said loudly, and I heard Kurama chuckle slightly as all of the people in the room began to follow me out.

"How can you call it freedom when you're being followed by a guard all the time? It's like you're a mental patient in an asylum going out into the sunlight all the time." Motoko giggled, and I threw her a glare immediately.

"I choose to live in ignorance, no matter how pathetic it sounds." I said moodily, and Motoko shot me a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, so, should I go get that assignment from Kaji so you can resubmit and make him blow a gasket?" Motoko asked, and I thought for a moment, the prospect of making my lecturer go insane with a rewrite of game psychology was quite appealing. I couldn't help but smirk slightly as I hobbled out of the house, Kurama and Motoko the only people with me at that moment – it seemed Yusuke and Kuwabara had suddenly disappeared.

"You'll have to ask the prison keepers." I said sarcastically, and Motoko, much to my horror, looked at Kurama seriously. She didn't take my statement seriously, did she?!

"That alright with You, Shuichi?" Motoko asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"I suppose there's no harm in it." Kurama said, and I could picture the exact smile across his face. I snorted slightly, my glare returning to my face.

"Right, time to rip out the console. You'll need to bring that too, Motoko." I said sarcastically, and I heard Motoko giggle.

"Back to Silent Hill, huh? What exactly did you write about to make him that mad at you?" Motoko asked, legitimately curious.

"Get the assignment back off of that damned lecturer and you can read it." I said, my gaze narrowing on the ground as Kurama began to lead the way. "It made him think I was a homicidal maniac with all of the information I put into it."

"Pfft, Kaji thinks _everyone _that writes about something other than soccer's a homicidal maniac." Motoko stated, and I rolled my eyes. I looked down at a patch of the path that I had stepped earlier that day, seeing that there was now cracks in the hard soil. I decided to put it to the back of my mind, it's possible the ground hadn't been noticeably cracked to me cause I had been watching the trees as I hobbled around earlier that day.

"It's probably a good thing you decided to come along, Meia, you can point out some things that you'd actually eat." Kurama said, and I frowned slightly.

"Oh, found out she's an emotional nut when it comes to food?" Motoko stated, and I threw her a filthy look.

"Emotional nut?"

"She's talking complete nonsense!" I spat, and Motoko looked at me with an exasperated look whilst Kurama looked somewhat startled at my comment.

---------------------------------------

The hard soil of the path began to crack and split even more as the three began to head to town, Motoko having to catch Meia as she began to trip over a rock. The ground began to split more noticeably as a kind of metallic black substance began to seep out of the crack and form a puddle where the crack was.

After a few moments, as the three disappeared over the hill towards the town, the metallic liquid began to seep back into the ground, as if the flow of liquid had found a more gravity-obeying route through the ground.

"Netami ..." Came what could be interpreted as a very low hissing, almost non existent as the last of the metallic black substance seeped back into the ground.


	17. Mantra De Netami

___**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Mantra De Netami**_

I smiled as I saw Motoko's apartment building up ahead. The building was able to be seen from miles away, but we were barely a hundred meters away from it. The building appeared to reach up to the sky, the building itself was over sixty floors high, and Motoko lived on the fifty seventh floor, which was labeled room 507a. I think it was because the builders didn't want to label every room with the four numbers, lazy people. Most other people got confused, due to the numbering system, most people thought room 507a was the seventh door on the fifth floor room A. And because Motoko lived on her own, she _had _to get up on her own. It was entertaining in a way, to watch her slump out of her apartment was half of the fun.

"So you live _here _Motoko?" Kurama asked curiously, and I saw Motoko grin from ear to ear.

"Yeah, room 507a, _all _the way up at the top!" Motoko said, pointing up at what one would assume was the roof of the building. I coughed as I pictured the full extent of the building. I had never gone all the way up the building, and I didn't know how many floors there really were, but I knew there had to be something like seventy eight.

"What-- but I believe--"

"The numbering systems all wacked out. A is the room." I cut in, feeling Kurama look at me. "Floor fifty seven. And half the time the elevator's broken." I felt Kurama continue to watch me as I looked at Motoko. "And I won't be able to head up there if that _is _the case." I commented, and Motoko smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, you'll fall down the stairs again." She said, and I frowned deeply. What was it today? Pick on Meia day?

"Well, I shall see you tomorrow at College, Motoko." Kurama said to Motoko after a moment, and I rolled my eyes as Motoko grinned hugely.

"Will do, see you Shuichi!" Motoko said happily, then she began to head up the stairs. I just frowned momentarily. Of course I wasn't there the moment Kurama spoke again. I heard Kurama chuckle as Motoko disappeared up the stairs and into the building, causing me to look at him from the corner of my eye.

"Motoko is an interesting character." Kurama mused, and I smirked, managing to turn on my crutches and begin to hobble my way back downtown. Kurama wasn't stupid, and anyone, even _Kuwabara _would be able to tell that Motoko was absolutely nutts for Kurama, he _had _to know it! I'd bet my life on that fact! I'd think I had died and gotten myself lost in a nightmare if he didn't. "In anycase, Meia, we should probably to a light bit of shopping before we head back to the house." Kurama began, and I looked at him over my shoulder as he began to follow me back downtown.

"Not enough arms?" I asked, and I saw him smile faintly.

"Not quite, Kuwabara usually accompanies me here, for the sake of blending in." I raised an eyebrow at that comment, coming to a stop as I thought on that. For the sake of blending in?

"What's that mean?" I asked suspiciously, and I saw Kurama smile wearily.

"It's not exactly a normal, every day occurrence for someone to walk through a portal with armfuls of groceries with them." He said with a smile. It made sense, but there was a strange, unknown feel, as if he was hiding something with his words, but I couldn't grasp even an element of what it was.

"Fair enough ..." I replied, looking back ahead and beginning to hobble onwards again. I wasn't convinced, but I kind of knew Kurama was not going to answer me. I glanced down at the ground I was hobbling across, spotting many little cracks in the ground from wear, the roads and footpaths were in serious need for repair, though they had been that way for well over a year. I said nothing else as I looked around slowly, taking in all of the scenery as I continued to move. There were many shops that I had not seen in a very long time, I was never one to go browsing in the least at the time, but after being kept in a house for well over a week, I felt I needed to have a look around. I didn't see any shop however that gained my interest per say, I was just happy hobbling around outside.

"Well, I suppose we had best go get the groceries before we head back to the house." I heard Kurama say, causing me to roll my eyes slightly.

"I guess." I said, an air of disappointment to my voice, which didn't go unnoticed as Kurama looked at me immediately.

"We can always come back tomorrow morning." I heard Kurama say, and I merely inclined my head slightly. "So, considering that you haven't exactly eaten in a little over a week, what do you want for dinner?" I glanced at Kurama from the pavement, feeling the need to properly excersise my freed leg. It didn't feel like it had been over a week to me.

"Carrot." I said off the top of my head, earning a marginal smirk from Kurama.

"That's going to be easy for me to prepare." Kurama said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Salad." I said sarcastically, coming to a halt as I heard Kurama chuckle, carefully placing weight on my newly freed ankle carefully, and beginning to walk forwards.

"Well, I can't quite see Kuwabara and Yusuke being happy with just that for themselves, let alone Hiei." Kurama said, and I frowned slightly as he grabbed my crutches from me. So far so good, no unbarable pain or anything of the like, my foot could take a little workout.

"Fine, I just want salad." I said, and I heard Kurama chuckle slightly.

"And I'll be assuming you'll be eating in your room to keep with your antisocial side." Kurama added, and I slowly lost the frown. I hadn't been _that _antisocial, had I? I thought about it for a few moments, and I was inclined to agree with him, however I didn't word it. The people around me were still wandering around happily, the crowds were just the same, and I couldn't hear anything that was all that interesting, so I guessed it was better to head back to the house once groceries were gathered. I began to pick up speed to keep up with Kurama, and my ankle didn't protest at all, which was a relief to me. I could feel something cold, like the wind, but it seemed to only be against the back of my neck, which was ... odd ... but I was somewhat used to it from living in the basement, it was colder than the rest of the house combined.

"Netami ..." Came a hissing from right behind me, and I felt my whole body suddenly freeze as my eyes snapped open wider. I could feel that my breathing had stopped, and I could feel my hand at my side beginning to shake as I listened to the sounds of the people chatting away around me. I slowly looked behind me as I heard the hints of more hissing, though this one wasn't understandable to me in the least, and all I saw was people walking on their way to their next destination, so many of them, and there was nothing going on. I tried looking around, to try and find _something _that would tell me what had hissed that one word, _anything_ that would explain it.

"Meia." Came Kurama's voice from right next to me, so suddenly that I flinched and snapped my gaze to him immediately, to see him standing just a little ways away from me, about a meter, and he had a hint of concern in his expression. "Is there something wrong?"

"You didn't hear ... anything?" I asked after a moment, and I saw more concern cross Kurama's face.

"No, I didn't hear anything strange. Why?" Kurama asked, and I blinked before I replied.

"No ... I'm just hearing things. Don't worry." I lied, biting my lip as I began to walk onwards, feeling Kurama's gaze upon my back. If I said anything about that voice ... I'd probably be placed in the isolation cell like that king Enma wanted to do if I wasn't going to be killed instead.

"Ne ... tami ..." Came another hissing again almost a split second later, and I froze in place again, but instead of being the only one that apparently heard it, I heard Kurama immediately spin around to look at something. "Netami ..." Came the hissing again, but I felt my limbs begin to shake as it sounded like the voice was right behind me. Something suddenly made a loud crunching sound, and I snapped my gaze straight down at my feet as I felt something suddenly move beneath my feet. Something metalic and liquid suddenly shot up from out of the ground beneath my feet, and engulfed my body in the liquid. I heard people suddenly scream as it felt like someone had suddenly grabbed me by the neck with two hands, like someone was going to throttle me at that moment, and I couldn't even move from my frozen state to even try and fight it.

"Netami ..." The hissing voice came again, but my eyes widened as I heard it from a few inches in front of my face, as the metalic black liquid began to turn into a silhouette-like being in front of me. I could feel my heart racing at a million miles an hour as I saw two pure red eyes began to form in the metallic black liquid as I heard more cracking begin to echo through the screaming.

_Kurama! Where's Kurama?! _I thought frantically as I saw pointy white teeth beginning to form in the black metalic liquid being as I felt the grip around my throat begin to close. I tried to move, but my body wasn't responding, not even my fingers would respond. _Kurama! _A sudden crackling of bones echoed in the moment a flash of green wizzed downwards past my face, and a sudden shriek of pain met my ears as I was suddenly dropped. I felt someone catch me before I hit the ground, and I saw the mass of black fall to the ground as it shrieked in pain, turning into a puddle of black liquid.

"Sorry Meia, I got jumped as well." Came Kurama's voice as I felt someone drag me to my feet and begin to leave at a run, and I could feel my body dragging along behind them. There were people still screaming, but I couldn't see anything but blurs of colour as I stumbled along. "Koenma! We need someone down here!" Kurama said suddenly, and I managed to look at where his voice was coming from, to see that he was the one dragging me along, and the hand with a green, thorned vine was pressing something into his ear. "I don't know what they are, but they're coming out of the ground!" I snapped my gaze back around as a blood curdling scream echoed suddenly to my right, and I felt as if I was suddenly going to faint. There were _hands _beginning to shoot up out of the ground, many, many of them, they were beginning to appear as fast as they were running. The scream had come from one person that had been grabbed by the ankle, a woman who had fallen over.

"K-Kurama--"

"Sorry Meia, we can't stop!" Kurama said suddenly, and I felt myself suddenly stumble as my foot scraped along a slightly lifted stone slab. I could feel my legs beginning to protest, my legs were so weak that I was about to stop just so I wouldn't rebreak them. The people hadn't gotten _anywhere_, even though they were running away, they were still _here_! I felt Kurama suddenly skid to a halt, and I felt him suddenly pull me close to him as he began to back against a wall, and I looked to see, that the way we were running was already speckled with hands shooting up out of the ground. I couldn't even feel my heart racing, it was going too fast for me to be able to feel in the least, and I could only hear ringing in my ears over the top of all the screaming.

"Netami ..." Came that hissing again, but ... it was coming from more than one _thing_ as I stared. The hands began to drag the bodies they belonged to out of the ground, and I could feel myself beginning to crumble as I watched. "Netami ..." That word ... that name, I couldn't take it very much longer, I could feel myself shaking so bad as I stared. The arms looked like they belonged to reptilian, decaying creatures, and the bodies ... the creatures looked like monsters themselves, though they represented humans in a certain manner of speaking. They all had decaying bodies, they all were damaged and falling to pieces, but they were dragging themselves out of the ground, just groaning out the word 'Netami' over and over again. The people ... they were either managing to get away, or to hide in a shop ... but I could see more and more of them being grabbed by the monsters that weren't coming towards Kurama and myself.

"Koenma, hurry up, we're running out of time!" I heard Kurama say quickly, and I felt my breathing suddenly cut off as another blood-curdling scream suddenly echoed. I could see groups of three or four monsters grabbing people that hadn't managed to get away ... and I felt as if my stomach was about to empty itself right then ... as the monsters began to eat the people as they struggled to break free from their captors. I felt my body suddenly fall motionless, as if I wasn't standing there anymore ... like in my dreams, and I could hear nothing ... except from a noise that was not from here right now ... I didn't even feel Kurama release me and step in front of me to attack the oncomming monsters, I couldn't _see _anything else other than the monsters devouring everyone else ...

_So pretty, so delicious~! _Came a voice as I saw something else that was not here, everything was black. Another scream rang through my ears as the silhouette of something darker than the black in my vision began to tear something in their grip to pieces joyously.

"Netami ..."

_No! Please don't! I'm begging you, don't eat me! _Came another voice in my head as I saw a glimpse of what was really happening, children ... so many of them ... Then I saw that black silhouette, only, it wasn't a silhouette anymore, it was an old, vile looking human man with his teeth sunk into the side of a little boy, who was still screaming, though I couldn't hear it that time.

"Ne ... Netami ..."

"No ... no more ..." I felt myself say, though I couldn't hear it, my head was throbbing so badly it felt like I was going to pass out soon ... I hoped ... "Stop it ..." I could feel something burning beginning to run down my face as I stared at the man in my head. "Please ... don't hurt them ..."

-----------------------------------

"STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!" Came a blood curdling scream throughout the whole area as three beings ran through the city. They slid to a halt instantly, and a sudden explosion of sound met the scream not a moment later in a sudden surge of energy, the sounds of shattering glass began to echo throughout the area. The fire apparition stared ahead as the human and the sleeper covered their faces with their arms as glass just showered everything within ten square miles of them, _every _item made of the fragile material had shattered into fragments in no more than an instant.


	18. The Nocturne Of The Ending Calm

_**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: The Nocturne Of The Ending Calm**_

The toddler ruler remained seated at his desk, staring down at a report that had been put together by three of the four beings that stood in the room in front of him, in a kind of silence that would send even the most ruthless of murderers into a state of concern and silence themselves. The fire apparition was standing against the wall, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, as if he wasn't all that bothered with the situation. The red headed being was standing with his arms to his side, watching the toddler ruler's reactions as he read through the eight page report. The human was watching the walls, the chair, the desk, anything but the toddler ruler, the report or the others in the room, and the sleeper was standing with his arms crossed, his air of impatience non existent as he watched the toddelr ruler almost just as intently and analytically as the red headed being. It was a few moments before the toddler ruler let out a breath of exhaustion, placing the larger than normal report on his desk as he sat and thought for a few moments.

"So what do we know about these creatures that came out of the ground in the middle of the shopping district?" Koenma asked quietly, looking at Kurama after a moment. The red headed being inclined his head forward momentarily as he felt Yusuke and Kuwabara look at him instantly.

"From what I had seen of them, asside from the first that appeared, the creatures are nothing more than something of the like of the living dead." Kurama began, his eyes remaining upon Koenma as he felt Hiei look at him a few moments later. "They showed nothing asside from instinct, they seemed to be more inclined to devour the humans around them, well, as far as the ones that weren't surrounding us went in any case. The first, however ... was a different matter altogether. It appeared to be able to change form, much like one of the Hydra-serpents that one used to be able to find in Demon world, but it was clearly after Meia instead of just happening to notice her like the others."

"I see." Koenma said, letting out a breath wearily.

"However, both the monsters were speaking, repeating the word, Netami, though I can't seem to think of why." Koenma blinked at that piece of information.

"Netami? Jealousy?" Kuwabara said, and Kurama nodded. "That doesn't make sense! What's jealousy got to do with monsters?!"

"Maybe they're jealous of the way we look, they all looked like they crawled out from under a rock." Yusuke joked, and Koenma frowned slightly.

"So, the creatures just vanished?" Koenma asked, clearly choosing to ignore Yusuke's attempt at lightening the mood, and also Kuwabara's valid, yet pointless question from the change of topic.

"Yeah, just disappeared instantly, like we were imagining the whole thing when we got there!" Yusuke said, looking at Koenma from Kurama after a moment. "I don't even know what those things were after anyway, didn't even get to mow down half of them before they left."

"So, the innocents that were still alive have been accounted for. It seems I'll have to go through and erase all of their memories." Koenma said wearily, then he picked up the report again. "And you've written in here, that all of the windows and lights broke due to what you believe to be Meia losing control of her powers?" Koenma asked, a more serious tone in his voice than when he was asking about the monsters.

"I believe so." Kurama replied, and Koenma looked up at the red head before he glanced at the papers momentarily.

"It sounds like these creatures want to either kill our guest, or they want to aquire her for something." Koenma said, and he was answered with the agreeing motion from Yusuke and Kurama of a nod of the head. "I suppose that would be enough theoretical proof to have my father end his orders to have her executed. But she'll have to stay in spirit world's hands until this matter is resolved." Koenma said, scratching his cheek with a finger lightly. "Speaking of Meia, where exactly is she?"

"We had to take her to the infirmary, she fainted just as we got there, not that I blame her or anything." Yusuke said, glancing at the huge doors of Koenma's office momentarily. Kurama glanced at Yusuke momentarily before he looked at Koenma properly, and the toddler ruler was staring down at the papers again.

"Alright, there's nothing we can do until something happens, I'll call one of you to collect Meia when she wakes up, but until then, I want you all to stay close in case something _does _happen." Koenma said quietly, and Kurama inclined his head forward as Yusuke and Kuwabara just muttered something incoherrently as Hiei just walked through a portal that appeared a few meters before the door.

---------------------------

Koenma watched as the four spirit detectives walked through the portal, his brow furrowed as he began to think carefully on what he was going to do. He looked back down at the papers in his grip as he thought on the monsters. Clearly they appeared for a reason, no spontanious reason could be there, they never appeared nor disappeared like how his spirit detectives described it in the least, he didn't even know those beings were actually on earth.

"Like a hydra-serpent, huh?" Koenma spoke quietly, staring down at the papers. There was something missing, he knew all too well about that. Meia being unconscious was not too much of a surprise, he couldn't quite blame the girl if it really did get too much for her to take in the one go. He flicked to the fifth page, which was a recap on Kurama's point of view in the whole event. His eyes scanned the lines for one paragraph in particular, which he chose to overlook when the spirit detectives were in the room. Hiei being Hiei hadn't written one, the fire apparition only did the bare minimum for Koenma, but it wasn't like Hiei's point of view was all that important, the one that was with Meia for the whole time, was Kurama, and it wasn't like the fire apparition to give information without being forced, he barely even did the work that he was actually assigned without a death-glare.

Koenma blinked slowly as he found that paragraph he had been searching for, stretching slightly before he placed his eyes upon the mass of words intently. He read and read, but he only ascertained that Meia had appeared to have a mental breakdown at the time of the monsters beginning to advance on Kurama and herself. The demon had put a _lot _of detail into this, but it didn't really help too much with identifying what was going on. The problem of what the monsters wanted could wait for a few moments, if Koenma could understand what had caused the mental breakdown, even a little bit, it would help him try and figure out what to do with the girl so she was safer, if that were possible.

"Meia appeared to hear something before the creatures even appeared, though I had asked, and she had shrugged it of. However, Meia had appeared to also hear something that I myself could not for most of the time." Koenma read outloud, not looking up as the door to his office opened several moments later. "She seemed to be pleading with someone not within my sights to stop something, however, as I was preoccupied with fending off many of the creatures at one time, I might have missed something of importance, or perhaps, I had misinterpreted something that Meia had been pleading with the creatures themselves over."

"Koenma, sir, King Enma wishes to see you as soon as you're available." Came the voice of Koenma's blue ogre, George, causing him to look up at the said Ogre with a slight look of discomfort.

"Was it urgeant?" Koenma asked, and George seemed to take a breath before he spoke.

"He didn't say it was _urgeant_, but he expressed his wish that you see him, now in fact." Koenma slowly closed his eyes.

"Tell my father, I've got something to look into, but I shouldn't be more than an hour." Koenma said, and he stood up at his desk as George suddenly looked like he was going to faint. "_Now, _Ogre, I don't have any patience today."

"Yes, Koenma, sir." George said quickly, and he turned and left the room suddenly. Koenma exhaled deeply before he began to leave the room, picking up the report before he left the desk. He needed to know what these creatures were after, whether it was for Meia's death, or to aquire her for something. Both were just as likely. Meia was believed by King Enma to be a very dangerous and powerful demon, though they didn't know what she was, or what she was even capable of. Killing Meia off so that Spirit World wouldn't be able to use her against them, for whatever reason there was, Koenma didn't know, it was a motive that was very likely – kill the demon while she's defenceless, and take out the problem at hand. But at the same time, aquiring her was just as much of a likely scenario, a rumored demon that could bring the end of the human world in the eyes of King Enma was something that didn't go unwanted, many would have their eyes on the demon in question if they believed they could turn her while she was also weak, and then they would have something that would gain them great power. It was almost frightening just to be thinking about it, but Koenma needed to think long and hard about this. He had no information on anything. From the sounds of it, from Kurama, these creatures that had attacked were being either manipulated by someone, or they served that someone. This wasn't the movements of individual wills.

Koenma looked up at the door to the infirmiry silently, watching as it opened, and he stepped inside. The infirmiry was unusually empty, but of course, there hadn't been very many missions, so no one had been sent out in danger for anything. He blinked as he began to approach a bed on the far right side of the room as he saw that it was in fact in use at that moment. He could hear a few of the beings that resided in the infirmiry beginning to come out of their office as he leapt up and began to hover in the air without difficulty, coming to a halt just next to the edge of the bed. The being called Meia was lying in the bed, not a scratch on her in the least, however she did look like she was suffering for some reason, but she had only fainted, right? She was very pale, well, moreso than she normally was, and she did look a little unwell, but it was the expression across her face that had caught the toddler ruler off guard – she looked like she was recovering from something traumatising, something more worse than seeing monsters eating people in anycase.

"Koenma, sir. What are you doing in here?" Came a familiar voice, causing Koenma to look over towards the office after a moment, to see a purple shade demon coming over at a fast-paced walk.

"Ritsuko." Koenma said, inclining his head forward slightly before he looked back at Meia again. "Would you have happened to of had a chance to examine Meia since she was brought in here this afternoon?"

"Yes." The shade demon said, looking at Meia momentarily before she adopted a serous expression. "Asside from her being without additional injuries asside from her previous ones, Meia doesn't appear to be in any physical pain in the least, however she seems to be very sensitive for reasons I can't ascertaiin." Ritsuko glanced at the unconscious girl momentarily before she looked at Koenma again. "I can't see anything that had tried to alter her mental stability either, nothing has touched her in the least."

"Which says that this was caused by something else." Koenma said, and he looked at Meia momentarily. "Have you been able to find anything more out about Meia?"

"I'm sorry, Koenma, sir." Ritsuko said sadly, shaking her head slightly to reinforce her answer. "I can't seem to figure out what Meia Arisawa is from the samples of her blood that I have actually retrieved. She doesn't appear to be either apparition or demon, however we don't have proof of that." Ritsuko blinked slolwly, then she looked at Kornma momentarily. "However, she is definitely not a human, I can provide proof of that without problem. It's possible that due to the defects that Meia appears to have with her body, classification of her kind can't be ascertained until her abilities have actually begun to surface."

"I was worried you'd say that." Koenma said with a sigh of exasperation. "That doesn't make my job of convincing my father that Meia is an innocent any easier."

"Koenma, sir." Ritsuko said, and Koenma blinked suddenly. "I don't think that Meia will be any problem."

"How so?" Koenma asked curiously, and Ritsuko looked at the unconscious girl for a few moments.

"Asside from her abrupt, bitter manner, I believe that Meia is just a confused and scared girl that doesn't even know who she really is." Ritsuko glanced at Koenma momentarily. "She's moody, and she's very sharp mannered, but, I don't believe she would ever do anything against us, unless we were to be the ones that would hurt her first."

"I know. It's just a matter of convincing my father of that." Koenma said, and Ritsuko nodded slightly, looking at Meia again. "When do you think Meia will awaken?"

"That's hard to say, I think ... it's not a case of whether she wants to wake up ..."

"Meaning?" Koenma urged, and Ritsuko looked at Koenma again.

"I think the damage is psychological. It's whether her mind can cope with waking up, but I don't know why." Ritsuko said, shifting her weight onto her other leg as Koenma exhaled deeply.

"And hearing that from the best Mental analyser in spirit world, that just makes it definate," Koenma said, and he saw Ritsuko nod slightly.

"In any case, forgive me, Koenma, sir, but I need to return to my rounds." Ritsuko said, and she began to leave. Koenma looked down at Meia again after a few moments, his gaze remaining upon her face. If the damage really was psychological, then if she did wake up within the next few days, there was only one course of action he could take, and that was going to get him on the bad side of a certain telepath that just so happened to be on his team of spirit detectives. Skeletons were skeletons, Koenma didn't need to know every dark secret that the girl had, but if the damage was severe, then having someone keep an eye on her mental stability was a must, regardless of the wrath the orders would bring down on his head if he did order for it. Koenma sighed as he decided. Assigning Hiei to do this was the one thing he could do and not endanger anyone, asside from himself of course. There would be a lot of objections from the fire apparition, and Koenma knew he wouldn't obey until he got something in return.

"Koenma, sir. King Enma wants to see you now." Came Georges voice suddenly, and Koenma snapped his gaze over to the ogre immediately. He couldn't _really _punish the ogre for what he was ordered, Koenma let out a breath as he dropped down to the ground and began to leave.

"I suppose there's not much I can really do otherwise." Koenma said, and he heard George beginning to follow. "I'll just have to present as much evidence to my father as I can to try and justify Meia's innocence." Koenma said wearily, and the ogre said nothing, continuing to follow Koenma into the castle, away from the unconscious Meia.


	19. Sleeps Memoria

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER NINETEEN: Sleeps Memoria**_

The sounds of a faint beeping echoed throughout the room as the scent of medicinal substances lingered in the area. There were no other sounds, nothing that gave the signs of any life, aside from the sounds of the monitor which was tracking a steady heart beat. There was only the usual amount of light in the room, no sunlight, the room was lit with fluorescent lighting, and the sight of the medical equipment in the room just made it plain obvious that one was in a hospital of some sort, and the tiniest hints of items not from a hospital met the sight of the girl that was lying in the bed, her frail and weak form shifting slightly beneath the heavy blankets.

"Momma ...?" The little girl whispered, stiring even more beneath the covers. She blinked slowly, the intensity of the light was burning so much that it was very hard for her to see. She was only a small child, in appearance, she was of the age of four, however she was, much, much older, easily seven years of age. She blinked her grey eyes again as her weak eyes began to adjust to the painful light, and she could feel her body aching as she tried to sit herself upright. Only it was no use, her body didn't want to move in the least. She lacked the strength to even move her head.

"Ah, you're awake." Came a mellow and calming voice from somewhere in the distance, the parts of the room that the girl could not distinguish, even if she wanted to. "Good, I was beginning to worry." The girl tried as hard as she could to locate where the voice was coming from, and she slowly blinked her weak eyes as a grey silhouette appeared over her. She shrunk back out of reflex, and she would have screamed if her voice would have worked, as the person standing there grabbed her by the wrist. "It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to check something." She heard the person say, and she slowly recognised it as a male voice. She slowly blinked as she allowed the person to hold her wrist without her struggle, feeling a slight pulling at her skin as she tried to see more of the room, of what was in it and who was next to her. "Good girl. Almost done." She heard the person say, then she felt them slowly place her wrist back to the bed. "How old are you, little one?" The man asked, and the girl blinked again, only this time she could see more of him, he was wearing a large white coat.

"Eight ..." She managed to whisper, and she saw the man's silhouette step back from her.

"Eight?" He repeated, and the girl remained with her eyes upon the man. "You're very brave for eight years old." She blinked slowly again, her gaze beginning to clear slowly. She could now see a mane of dark brown locks running down the man's face, she had difficulty recognising that he was in fact really there. "Can you tell me your name?"

"M ... Meia ..." She managed to whisper, and she saw the man lift something from the end of her bed.

"That's a pretty name." The man said after a moment, seeming to be nodding his head at that moment. She slowly blinked again as she saw him step back over to her again. "I need you to stay still for a minute." The man said, and she felt him press his fingertips to the glands beneath her jaw. She didn't know what he was doing, all she could feel was sharp pains in the underside of her jaw, but she did as she was told, she remained as still as she could despite the fact that it did hurt. "Good girl." The man said, and she watched as he leant back from her and began to write something on the chart. She blinked slowly again, feeling pain in her head as the faint sounds of children laughing met her ears. "Now, you must be hungry, I'll go and tell one of the nurses to bring you something to eat. You get a treat for being such a good girl." The man said, beginning to walk out of the room. She remained silent, watching the disappearing form of white as it went around the corner.

"Somebody's awake now~!" She thought she heard someone say, but she looked where she had thought the voice had come from, only to see nothing but the white wall of the hospital room. She blinked slowly, letting her head back to comfortable and closing her eyes. "But the nightmare's only beginning~!" Came the voice again, and she opened her eyes quickly. Her eyes widened as her breathing suddenly stopped, as she saw something black hanging from the ceiling above her head, black ooze trailing down from it's open jaws. Her body wouldn't move, her mind wouldn't work, her wide eyes stared into blood red as the creature hanging above her threw itself at her.

----------------------------------------

The sounds of a monitor echoed through the room as the sounds of liquid dripping into another body of liquid chimed along side it. The air was a different feel to what one would think of a normal human building, and I slowly opened my eyes. A white ceiling was above my head as I remained motionless, my absent gaze remaining without movement as the sounds, scents and sights sunk in on me. The smell of medicine was thick through the air, very much like in an emergency ward in a hospital, however, these medicines smelt more caustic for some reason, far stronger than what was usually used on patients in a hospital. The scent of something not quite familiar was washing over me as my gaze faded momentarily as I blinked, something that I somehow knew was not human in the least. The sounds of a monitor was in fact there, I could see it from the corner of my eye, and the source of the dripping was in fact a pack of fluids that was running through to my arm, a drip in the human world. Perhaps this was the smell that was stronger than what I was used to. The sounds around began to become clearer as I continued to watch the ceiling, many voices, though they had the feel of something distant, I could hear them fairly well, though I could not grasp as to why. I recognised the voice of Ritsuko after a few moments, and I could hear the voice of another that I could vaguely recognise, though I didn't think too much on that.

I slowly dragged myself upright, looking around the room that I was in after a few moments. The room was the same white that most hospitals were, but the inhuman scent was enough to make me think otherwise if it weren't for the fact that I could hear Ritsuko talking to another in the next room. I was obviously back in spirit world, and in the infirmiry again, however, unlike the last few times I had awoken here, there was no one by my side. I slowly looked to the empty chair, my eyes tracing the wooden pieces without thought, and I could feel my mind beginning to work again.

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens." I heard a familiar voice say faintly, and I tilted my head to the right slightly. It _sounded _like someone had spoken it, but I couldn't be certain. I could hear the words echo in my head for a few circuits before all was silent again, and I blinked slowly. I closed my grip around the needle embedded in my arm, slowly removing it as the sounds of Ritsuko's chatter echoed faintly. The needle was quite long, two inches were actually embedded beneath my skin. As I felt the needle leave my skin, I placed it upon the little table that was next to the drip, being careful of my arm. However, as I had expected my arm to start bleeding, I wasn't expecting what I had got, I felt something ice cold trickle down my forearm rather than the skin-temperature blood drop that I had been expecting. I looked down at my arm again, and I saw my blood trailing down my arm slowly, just like it should be. I blinked slowly, grabbing a tissue from the box on the little table, and I wiped the blood from my arm carefully.

I could still hear Ritsuko in the next room, however I wasn't that bothered, I switched the monitor off, and then I unhooked myself from it, my gaze placed upon the blankets over my lap. Ritsuko was still talking away, which was a plus for me, I didn't want to be forced into a two hour examination by her. I carefully lowered myself onto my feet after a few moments. There was no pain, nothing that even gave me the indication that my leg had even been broken before. I straightened my top as I began to leave the infirmiry at a walk, my gaze tracing the walls as I decided to wander around the castle. I didn't care that I wasn't in anyone's sight, technically I was still within sights of someone from spirit world, and that was all I cared about.

The scent in the place was different for some reason, I found myself drifting into thought as I continued to walk. I could feel many of the colourful beings looking at me as I walked, but I paid them no conscious attention, my thoughts beginning to drift to something that was not of the origins of Spirit World, at least so I thought. I could feel my somewhat numb mind beginning to churn away as my feet took me down corridors to the right. Why does everything seem to revolve around the possibility that I was going to destroy the world? I didn't want this, don't want this. Do they really think I'd want to go and destroy the world for some unexplanable reason? What reason _would _I have to destroy the human world? I was happy enough in my own solitude, I'm fairly certain that was obvious when they were _spying _on me. I slowly blinked as I turned down a corridor to the left. I was happy enough being ilinformed, I'd rather not know _anything _than where I was now. I was now cornered, and there was no way I could get out and return to the way things were, I knew too much, and if I was as dangerous as they all think I am ... they're never going to let me live a normal life, not anymore.

Something that was never felt before, at least to me, was beginning to overcome me as I wandered the castle, feeling the gazes of many upon me as I then turned down the corridor to my right. I could feel a shiver run down my spine as I heard that cursed word replay in my mind like a slow motion bouncy-ball, a sickening feeling against the numb that I had been feeling until then. The feeling of icy-cold droplets slowly running down my limbs began to take over my body as I looked up at a door that was down the corridor from me. I didn't know the exact cause of the feeling, but I could venture a confident guess that it was in connection to the train of thought my mind began to take. I was standing outside of the infirmiry, I guess I had walked a huge loop around the castle, and I had been so far into thought that I had lost track of time.

"Hey! There you are." Came a familiar voice from right behind me as I was about to take a step onwards, causing me to fall motionless. I turned slightly to look at the person, and I saw a slight look of relief across their face. I blinked momentarily before I could consciously recognise them, for some reason my mind wasn't functioning all that well yet, I still felt a little foggy, a little uneasy, and that cold droplet feeling was still running over me. "Come on, Pacifier breath's wanting to see you, since you're awake." He said as he reached over and grabbed me by the wrist, and I blinked slowly as my mind slowly clicked to the name that belonged to this person – Yusuke Urameshi. It seemed the one thing that made me put two and two together in this state was that nickname he used. I let him begin to lead me onwards, I at least trusted him not to walk me into a conversation about me choosing incarceration or death without at least warning me. "Man, you're as cold as ice, what've you been doing? Walking through freezers?" I heard Yusuke ask, taking note of the hint of a joke at the freezer remark. However, I chose not to comment.

"How long were you looking for me?" I asked, and I saw Yusuke look back at me. He had a cut running over the side of his face, perhaps he had just come back from one of those missions he went on?

"Well, Pacifier Breath sent me to get you about an hour ago, said the tracking device wasn't working properly, whatever that means. That Shade woman's been shrieking over you up and leaving the infirmiry for a few hours though." Yusuke answered, and I nodded slightly. "I'm not sure what's going on, but it looks like Pacifier Breath's had a talk with his old man." I stared at him blankly as he lead me past the smaller offices that were before the office of this person we were heading towards to see. We came to a huge set of doors that I did actually recognise, and I felt Yusuke release my wrist to go and push the door open.

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens." Came a voice that was familiar to me, and I felt myself freeze as Yusuke pushed the door open. Why did that line sound familiar? I blinked as I felt Yusuke grab me by the wrist and proceed to pull me into the room, and I blinked as I saw four people already inside, one, a toddler sitting behind the desk, one, a long, red haired man, one, a taller, foolish looking ginger haired man, and a shorter, black haired man standing against the wall to my right. For some reason I couldn't remember any of their names, though I knew I had spoken with most of them before, the one standing against the wall to my right, however, I vaguely knew of.

"Ah, there you are, Meia." Said the toddler behind the desk. I blinked slowly as I felt Yusuke release my wrist. "Are you feeling alright, now that you've been up and about?" I shrugged slightly, choosing not to say anything as I just listened. The scents in the room were something that I hadn't noticed before, at least, as far as I knew of, I could smell roses, fire and ashes, something like a feline, and traces of other scents that for some strange reason was present in this element-less room. "Now then." The toddler began, and I felt my mind begin to numb again as I heard the tall, goofy one groan. "Enough, Kuwabara! You can go back to the house if this really bothers you!" The toddler said to the ginger haired man, and I blinked slowly.

"What--?!" He exclaimed, and I looked at him after a moment. Kuwabara was his name, I remembered that now, but I didn't quite remember everything I knew of this one. "Fine, I'll be quiet." Kuwabara stated, and I looked back at the toddler.

"Now then, do you remember anything that happened last week?" The toddler asked, and I blinked slowly.

"Last week?" I repeated, and I saw the toddler that Yusuke referred to as Pacifier Breath raise an eyebrow.

"You've been out of it for about a week, Meia." I heard Yusuke say to me, and I looked at him as the toddler suddenly turned pale as he obviously realised that I wouldn't have known exactly what he was talking about.

"I suppose I should have mentioned that first." The toddler said, and I looked back at him. "So, do you remember anything that happened in the shopping district last week?" I blinked slowly, trying to figure out what he was talking about. All I could remember was waking up after that nightmare where all the mirrors broke, everything else was black haze. I felt someone look at me after a moment.

"I don't." I answered, seeing the toddlers eyes widen.

"Alright then, what's the last thing you _do _remember?" He asked.

"Waking up to all the mirrors being broken." I answered, and I saw the toddler blink in non-comprehension.

"That was last week--"

"NO! It wasn't!" I heard Yusuke cut in suddenly, and I blinked slowly as I looked at him. "Y'see, I think that was about two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago?" The toddler repeated, and I blinked as I saw a mad look cross his face as he churned on that piece of information. "I want an explanation _now_!"

"It didn't seem like anything to report, Koenma, so we didn't." I heard someone say, and I looked over to see the red-haired man looking at the toddler. I blinked. Kurama and Koenma, that was their names. Koenma seemed to let out a breath after a moment, and he looked down at the paper in front of him.

"I see." Koenma stated, and then he looked at me. "In any case, you're going to have to stay in the house for a few more days until everything's sorted out, Meia, and hopefully by that point, I should have figured out what to do with you."

_What to do with me ...? _I thought slowly, seeing Koenma glance at the man standing against the wall.

"Yusuke, Kuwabara, can you please take Meai back to the house? I'd like to speak with Hiei and Kurama for a while."

"Huh?" Yusuke said as I blinked, but I felt him grab me by the wrist after a few moments. "Come on." He said, and I looked at him as he began to pull me towards a purple swirling mass of energy I knew as the portal back to the house.


	20. The PitchBlack Haze

**[Authors Note] **Hey all! Sorry for all the late posting and everything. Internet is being installed at the house very, very soon, so come then, there will be a sudden explosion in posting and everything! Yay! Anyways, I will have another few chapters for this fic soon! Luv ya all! Josaphina Sluik

-_**[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY: The Pitch-Black Haze**_

The distant hum of electricity was echoing throughout the room as the cold ate through the flesh with piercing fangs. I remained flat on my back, my eyes closed as I felt my reeling mind settle slowly. For the fact that I had only just woken up, I had been trying to figure out why I was being handled with such care by Yusuke and Kuwabara. It didn't make sense to me, I had only woken up from slumber, I knew that full well, but for some reason there was something that was making them act strangely. I had vacated into the darkness of my room to get away from them, I felt I needed the time away to unreel, to think over what I remembered, and the fragments that seemed to be coming back to me slowly. I had ascertained not that long beforehand, that the man that had been standing against the wall in the time that I was in Koenma's office, was this Hiei that was mentioned a few seconds before Yusuke began to lead me through the portal. I felt in my gut that I knew very little about this person, even without my fragmented memory, so it didn't matter all that terribly much to me that I didn't really know his name.

I heard a fast-paced set of footsteps echo faintly throughout the house as I remained where I was, the cold air stinging my bare limbs as I remained still. I seemed to be hearing more the longer I remained silent, for some strange reason the well built house was no longer silent to my ears, I could never hear anyone outside of my room at any point until they were essentially in front of my door before I woke up, and now, for some reason, I was hearing things I knew I shouldn't have been.

"Hey guys!" I heard a muffled voice call faintly, and I slowly opened my eyes as I heard no response, my gaze falling upon the pitch-black ceiling after a few moments. I guess Kurama and Hiei had just gotten home. I blinked slowly as I thought on that information for a few moments, and I carefully dragged myself upright, my mind slowing down as I carefully moved over to the edge of the bed. It wasn't like I really needed light in this room, I was perfectly fine just walking to where I knew the door was. I could hear more footsteps as I walked over the floor carefully, and my hand closed around the door-handle as I listened to the sounds echoing throughout the house. I opened the door carefully, and stepped out, feeling my damp hair slip down my neck from it's tight bun, and a shiver rose through my spine.

"I'd say it's time I started organising dinner." Came a familiar voice as I closed the door behind me carefully, and I slowly looked up the stairs as I heard people moving about with more volume.

"What're you making?" Came Yusuke's voice, and I began to head up the stairs as I heard someone step out of the house. My hearing was abnormally good tonight, but it was the last thing I wanted to think about at the moment. I reached the top of the stairs, and I saw someone poke their head out of the kitchen walkway.

"Hey! It's Sleepy!" Came the voice of Kuwabara, and I felt myself frown fractionally at that.

"So I'm one of the seven dwarves now, great." I complained, and I saw a stumped look cross Kuwabara's face.

"Dwarves? I never said anything about some dwarf." Kuwabara commented, and I heard Kurama chuckle from in the kitchen.

"The story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, it's an old tale about a princess that runs away into the forest, and she lives with a group of dwarves that she happens upon by accident." I heard Kurama explain, and Kuwabara snapped his gaze into the kitchen, where I knew Kurama was standing. "It's a tale that mainly people in Australia and perhaps America are raised knowing. One of the dwarves, if my memory serves me correctly, is called 'Sleepy'." I nodded my head as the ginger haired male snapped his gaze to me.

"Man, even I knew that one, Kuwabara." I heard Yusuke say, and I frowned as I began to step past Kuwabara and into the kitchen.

"Why'd shrimpy storm out all of a sudden?" Kuwabara asked, and I frowned fractionally as I looked over at Kurama, who was standing in front of the counter.

"He's not exactly all too happy with a job Koenma's just given him. I highly doubt we'll see him until tomorrow morning." Kurama replied to Kuwabara, and I frowned fractionally.

"He's _never _happy, what makes this any different?" I heard Yusuke ask, and I winced as the scent of blood began to overpower my senses. It was far more sickening than what it normally would have been, though, if I was going to be stuck in a house with four people that eat meat, then I had to get over my deterrence from meat, or at least learn to bare the scent and sight. I sat down on the floor next to the windowsill, where I was not able to see what it was that Kurama was preparing.

"Well, I'm not going to talk about it. It's a strictly classified assignment." Kurama answered, and as I glanced at Yusuke, I saw that his jaw was hanging open, and Kuwabara rather looked like someone had something in some kind of foreign language.

"Huh? Classified???" Yusuke repeated, and Kurama merely inclined his head forward in a nod as I just leant back into the wall. "Did he have any job for us then?" Yusuke asked, and I frowned fractionally as I felt the sensation of something staring right at me, but I forced it from my mind.

"I'd rather doubt it, Koenma has enough on his plate getting through with erasing everyone's memories of the incident last week to have anything for us to really do." I heard Kurama say, and I felt confusion overcome me as I just watched the ceiling. This incident that kept on being mentioned seemed to be the only thing everyone seemed to care about.

"Right, right, but what'd he want with you anyway?" Yusuke asked, and I frowned as I saw Kuwabara step over to me from the corner of my eye.

"Koenma just wanted to give me some information, that's all." Kurama said, and I saw Kuwabara looking down at me like I was some weird alien he had never seen before in his life.

"What do you want?" I asked, and I saw Kuwabara frown fractionally.

"Is it comfortable down there?" He asked, and I frowned even more.

"Quite comfortable, nice and cold." I replied simply, and he seemed to be a little stumped at the statement.

"I suppose you'll be joining us for dinner this evening, Meia?" I heard Kurama ask, and I looked at him after a moment.

"Hey, yeah. I haven't seen you eat once the whole time you've been here." Yusuke said, and I saw the fool standing over me look at me in sudden horror.

"That's because I haven't." I replied, for some strange reason I was quite certain of that fact, despite the fact that I seemed to be missing a week of my life here.

"What?!" Kuwabara exclaimed, and I frowned at him slightly. "You haven't eaten anything?! No wonder you look as thin as a twig!"

"It's none of your concern." I said bitterly, looking back at Kurama after a moment, and I could feel the sick feeling growing more intense as the scent of cooking meat hit me.

"I'll take that as a yes, but downstairs in your room." Kurama commented, and I closed my eyes as I nodded slightly.

"Man, if Keiko found out about what you've been doing, she'd come and get mad at me, then give you a lecture." I heard Yusuke complain, and I frowned fractionally as I heard Kuwabara begin to complain under his breath about _something. _

"I don't believe you have met Keiko, have you, Meia?" I heard Kurama say faintly, and I looked up at the counter to see Kurama glance at me from something to do with lemon and coriander, those two scents began to overpower the scent of meat, which I was glad for. I merely shook my head slightly.

"Keiko's Urameshi's girlfriend." Kuwabara answered for me, and as I looked at Kuwabara, I saw a fist collide with the side of his head.

"I believe Yusuke would rather the term 'close-friend', Kuwabara." I heard Kurama comment with a chuckle, and I looked at him again as the scent of Corriander grew more intense. God this was going to be a long stay if I couldn't eventually get used to the scent of meat. "Keiko often comes over, whether it be with Yukina, or Shizuru, she is normally here every weekend." I blinked slowly, then glanced at Yusuke.

"Then ... who's Shizuru ... and Yukina?" I asked slowly, trying to get the two new names right, and I saw Kuwabara suddenly duck away from Yusuke with a far away, and almost scarily happy look across his face.

"Shizuru's Kuwabara's sis, and Yukina's an Ice Apparition that lives with an old bat called Genkai." I heard Yusuke explain, and I saw him then lunge at Kuwabara and throw a fist into the back of Kuwabara's skull. The tall, ginger haired man that had the scent of cats over him yelped and crumbled to the floor. "Although this bone-head's all head over heels for the poor girl."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara shouted angrily, and I blinked as I saw him suddenly lunge at Yusuke.

"In any case, you will meet them all fairly soon. Koenma believes it would be very beneficial for you to interact with them, rather than being locked up in the basement for the whole time." I blinked, then snapped my gaze to Kurama as Kuwabara yelped in reaction to another swing from Yusuke.

"Can Motoko come?" I asked, and I saw Kurama look at me after a moment.

"I'm afraid not. Koenma is still trying to reason with King Enma over your release, and he only wants people he has dealt with personally having anything to do with you until the matter is resolved." Kurama explained, and I nodded slowly, placing my gaze upon my knees slowly. "She did bring your PlayStation and games back, however." I blinked slowly, a marginal frown crossing my face.

"She brought my console back?" I said quietly, and, as I heard approaching footsteps, I looked up at what the cause of them was. My gaze landed upon the one person in this house, that I had only ever heard say one thing to me, right back when that demon was going to kill me in the Infirmary. He walked into the room, an air of irritation across his face as he looked at Yusuke and Kuwabara now fighting over what looked like a box of mint chocolates. I saw him glance at me where I was sitting, and I saw a look of severe agitation cross his face almost instantly. I blinked, confused about that sign of dislike, and as he sat up on the windowsill on the opposite side of the room, I began to wonder what I had actually done to piss off this person that I had never _really _officially met before.

"Meia." I heard someone say, and I looked up with a sudden start to see Kurama standing just in front of me, a bowl of something in his hand as he watched me. I blinked quickly, not even looking away from him as I heard Kuwabara suddenly yelp for some reason. The scent of Coriander and Lemon was strong, and the scent of Mint was about now, but for some reason, it didn't mask the scent of roses and other such flowers. I saw him hold his hand out to me, and I hesitated, almost confused for a moment, before I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. I blinked as he placed the bowl in my hand gently, and I guessed that it was my dinner, I couldn't smell any meat in this.

"Thank you." I said, and I saw him smile slightly.

"That's quite alright." He spoke, and I slowly began to leave the room, ignoring Kuwabara looking at me in a strange manner as I walked. I began to head for the stairs, towards my room in silence, however, the fight between Yusuke and Kuwabara resumed as I began to step down the steps into the cold depths of the house. The basement was cool, and dark, just how I like it. I took a bite of my dinner, a salad of some sort, and I found that I could eat it without problem, but for someone who hadn't eaten for weeks, I wasn't starving, which was odd. I shrugged it off as I carefully opened the door to my room, and stepped into the dark room carefully before closing the door again.

------------------

The ceiling above my head was a depressing sight of grey and black in the little amount of light that my bed-side clock was emitting, a blue light being cast over the side of my face as I stared up. For the whole of it, I was feeling a little better, that sick feeling in the core of my being was now gone, the absence of the scent of meat was enough to make me feel better, despite the salad for some reason. I could hear people walking around upstairs, two sets of footsteps, one set belonging to Kuwabara, who was incredibly heavy-footed, and very uncoordinated with how he moved, and the other, that one was Kurama, I had heard him come down the stairs to grab the dishes beforehand, so the sounds of his footsteps was now in my memory for future reference. A sense of cold, silent dark was upon my very soul as I just stared up at that ceiling, lying on top of my bed, with my left hand upon the blankets, and my right hand upon the cover of my favorite video game, which was in fact, set on my chest, as if by holding it close to me, the thoughts and feelings would be protected by my very body from harm.

The sounds of metal grinding against metal began to slowly run through my head as I stared, and the sounds of stone cracking and crumbling came to my hearing. I slowly closed my eyes as I began to hear people above stop walking, and I could feel the cold beginning to grow more intense, or rather, seem to grow more intense as far as I knew. My senses seemed to be doing strange things of late. An image slowly flickered onto my mind as I remained silent and motionless, nothing but a glimpse, something that meant nothing at all, unless I was looking for it. Slowly, I could hear the faint sounds of screaming come to my hearing, though it seemed to only be in my head, and I couldn't quite understand why.

_I don't know what they are, but they're coming out of the ground! _Came a faint voice in the back of my head, mixed in with the incredibly faint sounds of people screaming. I slowly shifted my position on the bed, so that my hand with the game cover was situated on the bed, and my left side was lifted off of the bed slightly. _Koenma, hurry up, we're running out of time! _Came that voice again, and I slowly opened my eyes as I recognised the voice. I stared straight ahead of me, listening to the empty sounds around me, and the growing havoc in my head. I stared at the ceiling, and then a sudden whirlwind of pain hit me as soon as the realisation of the words had.

_Stop it! Stop it now! _Screamed a voice in my head, and I saw images of falling glass in front of my eyes, flickering like a film reel that was about to run out of film to read. The glass shot down in front of me, and the monsters in front of me began to step back from the wall of broken glass.

_Meia?! _Came another voice, and I watched as the glass suddenly shot forward and into the forms that were the strange monsters coming towards me.

_... Netami ... Time ... _Came another voice, and I stared as one of the monsters continued to stumble towards me. ... _Die ..._ I felt my eyes widen as the monster suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I snapped my eye open as severe pain met both my mind, and my arm. My mind reeled for a few moments, before my eyesight returned to normal, and my senses began to slowly return to normal. I blinked slowly, only to feel a slight frown cross my face. I slowly lowered my gaze to my arm over the game cover as I felt something ice cold running down my arm, and for some reason, I was more alarmed at the temperature the fluids were, rather than the fact that my arm was now gashed open. I sat upright slowly, looking down at the injury carefully as my blood ran down my arm and to the blankets. The gash ran right around my arm, in lines as if something much like a chain had been wrapped around my arm so tightly that it had gone and dug straight through my flesh. I slowly tilted my arm to the right slightly, my left hand slowly touching the gashes, and I felt my eyes widen slightly. The gashes looked like the ones that I had over my arm in that nightmare, and for some strange reason, the scent of rust was about it as well. I stared at my arm for a few moments, before I got to my feet carefully, and began to head out of my room – it wouldn't do me any good in staying put and letting myself bleed to death.


	21. The Saturn Star Our Black Abyss

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: The Saturn Star; Our Black Abyss**_

The sounds of birds singing met my ears as I remained silent, my gaze upon the masses of bandages that was now my arm. My body felt a little off centre as I listened to the birds, I could feel more than one pair of eyes upon me for some reason, but it didn't bother me. If I was all that interesting to other people, then I'd like to know why. I felt a slight pressure press into my arm slightly, and I placed my attention to Kurama after a moment, seeing him take his hand away from my now completely bandaged arm. A mildly perplexed look was across his face, but he didn't seem to say terribly much, I knew he was the sort to put two and two together before he even made a sound.

"That should do it, you'll have to get me to change the bandages for you later tonight." Kurama commented, and I inclined my head forward in an answer, my gaze trailing down to my arm after a few moments. I was due for another nightmare, but, I hadn't gotten one. I was glad for it in reality, but at the same time, I would have rathered the nightmare over my arm suddenly becoming useless again. I traced my eyes along the lines in the bandages, my eyes narrowing upon my wrist, where the _new _tracking device was embeded beneath my skin. Kurama took the advantage of replacing the tracking device while I needed my arm bandaged anyway. It seemed odd ... but at the same time, I vaguely remembered Yusuke mentioning _something _about the tracking device playing up.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." I spoke after a few moments, my gaze falling back to Kurama's face. I saw him smile after a few moments, though this was not forced in the least, rather, it was a wry one.

"It really doesn't matter, I wasn't asleep." Kurama said, closing the medical box after a moment and getting to his feet. "Since I'll be organising breakfast, could you go and wake Yusuke and Kuwabara up?" Kurama asked, and I inclined my head forward again in a slight answer. "Second and third doors on the second floor." My gaze fell upon the doorway into the kitchen as I saw something move from the corner of my eye, seeing the form of Hiei step into the room. But this time, he didn't even look at me, as far as I could tell, he just walked straight past and to the windowsill he took up last night. All I did before I left the room was let the frown cross my face, but that was it, I felt Kurama look at me as I walked out the door.

I could feel boredom beginning to eat at me as I walked, my eyes tracing the walls as I slowly walked up the stairs. I came to the second floor, my eyes tracing along the short corridor. There was essentially only four doors here, as I knew. Kurama was the first door, and if Yusuke and Kuwabara were the second and third doors, that made the fourth door Hiei, I guessed. I knew there was the third floor, but I didn't really have any reason to even look up there, so I didn't bother. I stepped down the corridor slowly, my gaze tracing the walls slowly. The scenery outside looked very much different from what it did down on the bottom floor. I could see the lake through the window at the end of the corridor, which made me almost turn right around and head out to leap into the huge pool of water. I loved swimming more than anything else around, aside from my love of music. I resisted the urge to dive into the body of water, and stop in front of the second door. For the love of something to do, I was tempted to make a job of waking the two up, but, that would only be if it warranted it, I knew that some people hated being woken up, namely the being called Motoko, who would take a swat at me whenever I woke her up.

I knocked on the door after a few moments, taking my fist away from the wooden surface after a few moments. There was silence for a few moments, causing me to frown fractionally. I knocked again, this time louder, and I took a pace back as the door suddenly opened. I blinked as I saw Yusuke standing in front of me, in his boxors and a singlet, and he was stratching his head with a half-asleep look across his face.

"Whacha want?" Yusuke asked grumpily, and I frowned fractionally.

"Kurama told me to wake you and Kuwabara up." I answered bitterly, and I saw him blink before he yawned so widely that I was almost surprised his jaw didn't click out of place.

"Right." Yusuke grumbled, and I saw him look over at the third door after a moment. I was almost unsure as to why he was looking over there, until I saw a sleepy cheshire grin cross his face. He was plottings something. "Lemme wake Kuwabara up, I owe him for the crap he pulled last night."

"Huh?" I said quietly, blinking as I saw Yusuke suddenly step back into his room and head over towards his wardrobe.

"Come gimme a hand, you look bored over there!" I heard Yusuke say in a slightly hushed voice, causing me to frown fractionally as I stepped into the room as I was told – did I really look bored like I was feeling? My eyes traced the features of Yusuke's room with mild interest as I stepped over to where Yusuke was rummaging through his wardrobe. The room that was Yusuke's was clearly his, there were magazines scattered over the floor on a green rug just next to the bed, which had a brown over blanket on it. There was a chest of drawers sitting beneath the windowsill, and a television and DVD player upon a stand opposite the bed, which, as I saw, the many movies that Yusuke had accumulated from me, half of the covers lying on the floor open. It looked like Yusuke really did like the movies from the looks of it, I could see the main menu screen for The Ring playing on repeat, however I could tell that it had been muted. I came to a stop next to Yusuke, peering in to see what he was searching for, to see him pull out a small tub of what looked to be some sort of blood-red putty. I read the label over his shoulder as he examined the tub with the huge cheshire grin across his face – he didn't seem at all sleepy now. The label, as I read, said 'Fake Coagulated Blood, For the perfect prank, or the perfect addition to a dress up for Halloween'. I frowned fractionally as I took a guess at what Yusuke was going to use it for.

"Here, hold this for a minute." I heard Yusuke say, and I held out my arm to grab hold of the tub. He passed it to me, but I saw him suddenly take a look at my arms after a moment. "What'd you do this time?" He asked, motioning to my heavily bandaged arm.

"Same deal as before. Just happened." I said without thought, and I saw Yusuke watch me for a few moments before going through his wardrobe again. It was a few moments before that chesire grin crossed his face again, and I rolled my eyes as I saw him pull out a large featherduster.

"Perfect." Yusuke said in a hushed voice, and I saw him stand up and begin to leave the room.

"I'm sure I can see where this is going." I said quietly as I began to follow him, and I saw that huge, cheshire grin grow more intense.

"It's gonna be awesome!" Yusuke sniggered, and I came to a halt next to him as he slowly opened the door to Kuwabara's room. The door didn't even creek, unlike mine where it made the tiniest squeak if one opened it normally, but the most loudest and long groan when one tried to open it slowly and quietly. Yusuke padded over to Kuwabara's bed and motioned me to follow, causing me to do so. Kuwabara's room was different, more normal than I would have thought. A desk was in the far corner of the room next to the window, and a lot of clothes were thrown over the floor. A stack of study books were over the table, and I could see poorly written notes lying on the floor next to the desk. Kuwabara was lying flat on his back, arm and leg hanging off the bed as he snored horrendously loudly, and the yellow blankets were tangled around his waist and hanging off of the bed. I carefully lifted the lid off of the putty as I saw Yusuke standing next to the snoring Kuwabara, and I obediently handed him the tub when he reached out for it, and I was handed the feather duster in return. I saw him try to stop himself from sniggering as he carefully poured an amount of the putty onto the palm of Kuwabara's hanging hand, and I saw that the putty was more like goo, like, red water thickened with cornstarch. I blinked for a few moments as I thought on that, seeing Yusuke stop pouring so much goo onto Kuwabara's hand. I felt my frown leave my face as I began to watch what Yusuke was doing now with interest as he carefully poured lines of goo onto Kuwabara's stomach, then his hair, then his side. I saw Yusuke straighten up from the tedious work of setting up the prank, and he looked at me. I felt a cheeky smirk cross my face as I pointed to the floor, and motioned all along the floor at the edge of Kuwabara's bed.

"Perfect." I heard Yusuke whisper, then I saw him pour a generous amount of the fake blood onto the floor, forming a puddle where Kuwabara would step to chase after us when he woke up. I saw Yusuke then close the tub of goo, then place it carefully under Kuwabara's bed. I couldn't help but giggle as Yusuke retrieved the feather duster from me, and I stepped over eagerly to watch the prank in action. Kuwabara must have been a heavy sleeper from the fact that he hadn't stirred once. Yusuke began to lightly run the feather duster over Kuwabara's cheek, the both of us beginning to have difficulty in keeping our laughter down to a minimum. After about thirty seconds, Kuwabara hadn't moved an inch. I grabbed the feather duster off of Yusuke carefully, hearing no objection from him in the least. I then glanced at Yusuke before I lightly began to touch the feathers of the featherduster to the bridge of Kuwabara's nose, and his eyelids carefully. He stirred, and Yusuke couldn't stop himself from letting a snigger out as Kuwabara 's hand off the bed suddenly went slamming straight to his face with an almighty 'splat' a split second after I snatched the duster out of the way. Beady eyes suddenly shot open as Kuwabara sat bolt upright, and both me and Yusuke burst out in laughter as Kuwabara's yelp of fright echoed as he took his hand away from his face to see the fake blood.

"What the-- When the?!" Kuwabara yelped, and I fell to my knees as I began to laugh so hard, my sides were starting to hurt. "That's it!" Kuwabara suddenly exclaimed, and I was suddenly yanked to my feet by Yusuke.

"Run!" Yusuke shouted, a laugh in his voice as he dragged me along. A sudden yelp and a crash echoed a split second later, but we didn't get enough time to look back as we ran straight down the hallway and down the stairs.

"What in the world is going on?" Came Kurama's voice as we reached the bottom of the stairs, and I felt Yusuke release me as we both went running out the side door, right past a confused looking Kurama as Kuwabara's shouting followed us. Yusuke ran out of sight as I hid just next to the doorway of the side of the house, seeing the lake right in front of the door. I saw from the corner of my eye that Yusuke was on the other side of the lake, and I flattened myself against the wall as I awaited Kuwabara's arrival.

"GET YOUR BUTTS BACK HERE!" Came Kuwabara's yelling from the stairs, and I grinned evily as I readied myself to act, then run. I heard footsteps suddenly reach right before the door, causing me to throw my foot out in Kuwabara's way with all of my strength, and I felt his foot catch suddenly. I recovered as I heard Kuwabara yelp, and I looked just in time to see him plummet face first into the lake.

"Nice one, Meia!" I heard Yusuke exclaim from the far side of the lake as Kuwabara surfaced with a look of confusion across his face, his back towards me as he stared at Yusuke as he burst out into fits of laughter. I looked down at my hands as I realised I was still holding the feather duster, so I merely stepped back into the house, and began to head towards the kitchen, where Kurama and Hiei were looking at the lake from the two windows in the kitchen.

"I take it you're wanting to escape Kuwabara's wrath." I heard Kurama say from the window.

"I _think _that might be a good idea." I said with a smirk, and I saw a smile cross Kurama's face as he stepped away from the window. I saw him look over at me, and I blinked as I saw a look of confusion cross Kurama's face.

"Why the feather duster?" I heard him ask, and I grinned sheepishly as I suddenly hid it behind my back, and I saw Hiei glance at me with a marginal frown.

"_Nothing._" I said quickly, and he chuckled after a moment. I could hear Yusuke and Kuwabara shouting at each other outside as I saw Kurama lean over to the bench and pick up a bowl, a Salad, as I could tell. I stepped forward without hesitation, politely eager to retrieve the salad. Kurama was a good cook, I didn't need to have ever seen Yusuke or Kuwabara ravenously devouring a meal cooked by him to know that. "Thank you!"

"That's alright." Kurama said, and I began to leave quickly as I heard Kuwabara beginning to wade out of the lake.

"MEIA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Came Kuwabara's shouting voice, and I bit my lip to stop myself from giggling as I began to head downstairs to my room, _before _the annoyed moron actually caught up with me.

"Ah, I see you're awake." I heard Kurama say with a smirk as I reached the bottom of the stairs, and I couldn't stop myself from giggling quietly. He was the perfect prank victim! I was beginning to enjoy hanging out with Yusuke a lot, at Kuwabara's expense, but that seemed to be the trend in this household. I closed my hand holding the feather duster around the doorhandle with slight difficulty, and I pushed it open without too much difficulty. For some strange reason, the light was turned off – I didn't remember turning it off. I pressed my knuckle to the lightswitch after a few moments, and I closed my eyes as the sudden flash of light flickered on. The room was just as cold as it normally was, but there was an odd scent about it.

I opened my eyes after a few moments, and my eyes narrowed upon something lying on the end of my bed. I frowned slightly, setting the feather duster down on the little table that was just beneath the lightswitch, and began to head over to the bed. It looked like a parcel, wrapped in thick brown paper and tied with the old postage string. I came to a stop at the edge of the bed, and my now free hand grabbed the parcel carefully. I ignored the odd feeling in my fingertips as I examined the package – it looked to be the size of a small book. I slowly tilted the book, trying to locate any form of writing, anything to tell me who the sender was – perhaps this was mail that was supposed to have been delivered to me beforehand?

The odd feeling in my fingertips holding the package suddenly turned to burning pain, and I felt the package slip out of my grip as I flinched from fright as a face suddenly flashed through my mind. I heard the sound of smashing glass meet my ears as my eyesight cleared, and my gaze fell upon the mirror straight ahead of me. I shook my head slightly, looking down at the parcel that had fallen out of my grip. I felt ... confused. I didn't feel any glass in the package, it did feel like it was a book, but the shattering sound was clearly the package. I heard approaching footsteps as my eyes slowly widened at the sight that I saw. Crimson fluids began to seep out of the package, and the ceramic bowl in my hand slipped out of my hand as my body convulsed, threatening to empty my stomach's contents as another shattering sound met my ears.


	22. Scream For The Sun & The Chains Combined

**[Authors Note]** I thought of you all so I got this done as soon as I could. It's four thirty in the morning over where I am, so I'm going to go crash as soon as I get this onto Quizilla. I hope this chapter is alright, please let me know if I portrayed Meia's side of things well =) Or if I didn't.

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

___**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: Scream For The Sun And The Chains Combined**_

The beating of my speeding heart echoed through my head like a loud thrumming, successfully blocking nearly everything from my hearing. I could feel my breathing become shallow as I stared down at my floor in silence. My hands were tight over my mouth as I focused on blocking any noise from escaping me, blocking any bile that threatened to rise. The crimson fluids were still dripping onto the floor, the package was now completely red, and it was a heavy, sickening scent. My whole form was shaking, I could feel it as I focused on not making a sound, or movement, I had the feeling that someone was keeping an ear out for anything that I might do. It made sense that someone would, after those monsters attacking in the central shopping district. I swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of my throat as I carefully knelt down, a hand still tight over my mouth as I held my other hand over the bowl lying on the floor. Strangely enough, the bowl had only chipped, it was the package that the bowl landed on that had shattered. I picked it up gingerly, shifting it away from the package shakily as I watched the red seeping into the carpet. The scent was just like blood, it was blood ... and I had the gut feeling that it wasn't animal.

My fingertips shook badly as I hesitantly touched the package with a feather-light touch, and my fingers burned like I had just stuck them in a hot fire. I snatched my hand back quickly, looking down at my fingertips as I felt the burning pain begin to spread down my knuckles and through to the palm of my hand. I couldn't see anything, rather, my hand was even spotless, like I hadn't even touched the package.

"Man, I'm bored, I'm gonna go grab my fake blood from your room!" Came Yusuke's muffled voice through the veil of heart beating that my ears had cast over me, and I blinked as I looked down at the package.

"Calm down, it's just a weird ... package." I whispered to myself, slowly clenching my burning hand as I took my other hand from over my mouth, closing my eyes tight as I took a shaky breath. It's not like my body hadn't made me feel pain for some sadistic reason I didn't comprehend. My eyes falling upon my bandaged arm confirmed that for me as I opened them. The shaking in my body didn't let out, nor did the physically ill feeling as I looked at the package slowly. I began to slowly reason with my shaking form as I stared down at the package, every time I tried to reach out to the package again, my body wouldn't respond in the least. _Come on, I'm in the Spirit World Detective House, it's not like someone could put something dangerous in my room without one of them knowing. _I told myself, and I could feel the shaking in my body begin to lessen as I burned that thought into my mind. _Its probably some weird joke Yusuke decided to cook up while he was on a roll. _I told myself, and I think it was that thought that had brought my body to listen to me, I felt my body reach out to the package like I wanted.

"You hid it in my room?!" Came Kuwabara's yelling voice, and I felt the last of my bodies resistance disappear at that exclamation. No one seemed worried. I picked it up carefully, ignoring the burning in my fingertips and the rolling of my stomach as I carefully peeled the soaked paper from the package. So far no problem.

"Yeah, like I was gonna waste my time putting it back in my room when you were just sleeping there ready to prank!" I felt the package slip out of my hand suddenly, leaving the bloodied paper hanging in my shaking grip. What now lay on the floor was what looked like a photograph frame. I stared at it for a few moments, hearing the distinct 'thud' from upstairs, that was likely Kuwabara slipping on the stairs heading back up to his room. The frame looked no bigger than a 7x5 picture frame lying face down on the floor, and it looked to be made of wood. Blood smeared the frame in various places, but it seemed to mainly be pooling from the front. I hesitantly let the paper fall to the floor, barely managing to ignore the horrid feeling of nausea attacking me constantly as I carefully grabbed the picture frame. I slowly flipped the frame in my fingertips, feeling the burning in my hands begin to grow more intense as I took hold of it carefully. The sight of the image inside was what had me suddenly drop the frame.

The picture of a woman and two children was what was staring up at me, the familiarity of it so grotesque that I couldn't stomach looking at it, but for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. My heart began racing worse than when I had first dropped the package, and my nausea began to kick in worse. I couldn't hear anything, my head began to feel numb ... somewhat dizzy, and it felt like ... I was crying, but I wasn't. The woman, so pale yet beautiful, with black hair and ebony eyes, had a false smile across her elegant face, the first of the two children, the two girls, with silver hair and silver eyes, had a sincere, gloating smile, and the second --

"Meia!"

The sudden sound of glass suddenly exploding met the sudden shout from the other side of the door, and the whole room was showered in fragments of glass right before my eyes. I barely managed to blink when the door suddenly slammed open, and I hadn't moved an inch when I heard the person that had suddenly burst into the room suddenly swear. The glass, seemed to be moving slowly, for some reason, it was still falling as the door slammed open. The fragments looked like little snowflakes falling to the ground in the strange light that was shining into the room. And then ... the light faded as all the glass fell to the floor, and no more shattering chiming could be heard. For some reason ... I didn't feel sick anymore, I couldn't feel my racing heart, and I couldn't feel my breathing anymore ... I just felt numb, like I had just woken up from a deep sleep, or like I had just sat down after a tedious and mentally draining task.

"What the hell happened?!" Came another voice from further back, but I vaguely registered that the voice was even there as I stared at the glass sprinkled over my room.

"Hey! Meia! What happ--" I heard the person standing in the room begin, but as I didn't look over in the least as my gaze slowly dropped down to the photograph. I frowned slightly. The glass had been completely obliterated, much like everything else that was glass in the room, and, the picture was essentially faded and scratched out, I couldn't make very much out of it at all, at that moment. I blinked slowly, my eyes stinging with the slight motion, but I could tell no glass was in my eyes. In fact, no glass was over me at all, just over everything else in the room. I heard a sudden yelp of pure fright, and I looked up to my left as I saw that someone was standing right there. "KUWABARA! GET KURAMA DOWN HERE!" They suddenly yelled, and I blinked again as I saw that it was Yusuke standing there. Why get Kurama? I was fine. The sounds of someone leaving the room at a sudden run met my ears, a clumsy run, which identified this as Kuwabara.

"What?" I asked, blinking again as I saw the look of fright mingle into confusion.

"What in the hell did you do?!" He demanded suddenly, and I blinked.

"I didn't do anything." I answered mechanically, and I heard two sets of footsteps come down towards the room as I saw Yusuke's eye twitch.

"_You didn't do anything!? _Your room fricking exploded when I called you! And you're covered in blood! How the hell does that mean _you didn't do anything?!" _Yusuke demanded, and I merely blinked. He was getting annoyed.

"I didn't do anything." I repeated, and I saw him grind his teeth together to stop himself saying something, perhaps? Scratch the previous statement, he was getting mad.

"I see we'll need to replace all the mirrors again." Came Kurama's voice, and I blinked as I saw him crouch down next to me. "And you'll probably need to be taken to the infirmary too by the looks of that blood over you." I felt the first instance of annoyance begin to kick in, though I didn't understand it. All he said was infirmary.

"I'm fine." I said, and I saw him raise an eyebrow before he reached over and grabbed my hand. I saw Yusuke get to his feet and stalk out of the room, past Kuwabara, who was staring at my face like something foul and disgusting was on my face, or possibly like my face was the most horrific thing he had ever seen.

"Do your eyes hurt, Meia?" Kurama asked, and I blinked at that statement.

"No. Why?" I asked suspiciously, and I saw Kurama glance at me from the palm of my hand.

"You're bleeding." Kurama answered, and I blinked in confusion.

"Bleeding?" I repeated, and I saw Kuwabara nod shakily from where he was standing. I slowly raised my hand not held captive by Kurama as he worked on cleaning what turned out to be burns, I wiped the back of my hand under my eyes carefully, and I felt pure shock hit me as I saw smears of blood over the back of my hand.

"How did you get these burns, Meia?" I heard Kurama ask, and I snapped my gaze back to him immediately.

"I don't know." I answered, and I saw him merely glance up at my face as he grabbed what looked to be a roll of bandages. For some strange reason, I felt skepticism in his stare, and I could feel my patience beginning to wear thin.

"Do you know how you broke the mi--"

"I _said _I don't know!" I spat, and Kurama didn't even seem to acknowledge that I said anything.

"What were you thinking about when they broke?" I heard Kurama ask, and I felt a twinge of pain hit me as be began to bandage the palm of my hand.

"I don't remember." I stated, and I could see Kuwabara take a pace back from me through the corner of my eye.

"Then why--" Kurama began, but he cut himself off as I snatched my hand from his grip suddenly, the bandages coming from my hand in one clean string.

"I _didn't _break the mirrors."I spat, and Kurama didn't even seem to acknowledge my statement again, he just leant over to grab me by the wrist, but I snatched my hand away from him again. "Stop ignoring what I say!"

"Meia, after witnessing what happened in the shopping district, there is no doubt that you _are _in fact responsible for the breakings of the mirrors." Kurama said sternly, and I saw him look back at me with the same, patient look he _always _wore. That look, for the first time since I had met him, just made me want to break something, disfigure something, _anything_. "We need to ascertain why you continuously manage to--"

"So you can tell Koenma if it's better to destroy me or not?!" I spat, and I heard Kuwabara suddenly leave the room at a run as Kurama adopted a look of shock. I didn't care about that in the least.

"No, that's not the case at all." Kurama answered, but I just closed my grip around the photograph, and all glass that was still over the picture. "There are people after you, we are trying to ascertain what it is that they want."

"That still leads to the same damn thing!" I spat, and, much to what I least wanted to see, he just remained with that sickeningly patient look across his face.

"Will you let me attend to your injuries?" He asked, politely.

"Go jump off a bridge!" I spat, and, I saw him exhale deeply after a moment. I felt something in me snap, like that was the last thing to tip me over the edge. I could feel my breathing begin to become shallow again, but from a completely different cause. My hand closed around the photograph clenched forcefully, and I could feel my hands shaking slightly as I tried _very _hard not to do anything incredibly stupid.

"What is it that I've said to upset you this much?" Kurama asked, and I grit my teeth together as I got to my feet. He made no move to stop me as I began to stalk out of the room before I _would _do something stupid – I could feel my resistance failing on me quickly. I wanted out. I needed out, I couldn't take staring at another wall for another minute without throwing my fist through it. _No one _made any effort to stop me as I stepped out of the back door, even though I could feel eyes upon me. I didn't care where I went, I just wanted out.

----------------

Kurama let out a weary breath as he heard the back door slam shut, his gaze falling upon the blood-stained photo frame on the floor to his left. There was evidence of something having been in it, and he had seen Meia grab something from it before she left. He studied it for a few moments, before straightening up and heading upstairs – the scent of blood was beginning to make him feel a little faint, an oddity considering that he was well used to blood shed, much to what he wished otherwise.

"Kurama! Why'd you let Meia leave?!" Came Kuwabara's voice from the top of the stairs as Kurama reached the hallway, his weary gaze falling upon the unnerved human to his right. He seemed to be watching through the back door for something, possibly he was watching where Meia was going.

"I'm gonna bring her back!" Came Yusuke's annoyed voice, and Kurama saw the said spirit detective step down the stairs from the second floor. "There's no way I'm gonna get another lecture from pacifier breath!"

"Let her go." Kurama said, and he earned an incredulous look from Kuwabara, and an irritatedly confused look from Yusuke.

"What?"

"I don't care! Pacifier Breath's gonna kill us, and I'm not gonna be in the firing range--"

"We could have handled questioning her a little better." Kurama stated, and he let out another breath of weariness. "And unfortunately, it's not the best circumstances for her to be all that understanding."

"Who's gonna follow her then?!" Yusuke demanded, and Kurama looked over at the door to the loungeroom.

"I'm sure Hiei could keep tabs on where Meia is." Kurama suggested, and, he sensed an intense, yet complying glare come his way through the walls, causing Kurama to smile wearily as he sensed the fire apparition disappear in an instance.

"Tch, fine! I'm goinna Keiko's!" Yusuke said bitterly, beginning to stop out the front door.


	23. Onyx Lullaby

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: Onyx Lullaby**_

Trees flicked past my eyes as I walked, my eyes narrowed upon the ground as I went. I could still feel the seething anger in the pit of my stomach, my limbs were twitching every now and then to throw a punch, a kick, _anything _to vent out the anger. But, I didn't let it. I could feel my legs beginning to protest to the amount of walking I was doing, how fast I was walking, and how relentless I was. I paid my feeble limbs no mind. I just wanted to get away. My clenched hand with the photograph was shaking from the strain of my fist clenched around it hard, and I could feel everything aching from the pain. The burns to my hands, I don't know how they got there, nor did I really care. It was irrelevant, didn't matter, not now. I probably wouldn't figure out how I had gotten them in the first place, like those dreams, and those injuries that just keep inflicting themselves onto me without me moving an inch.

My left leg finally gave way after what seemed like minutes, and I managed to catch myself before the pain began to make itself fully known to me. I reluctantly set myself down on the grass beneath me, finding that I must have slowed down subconsciously, for I was at the very edge of a cliff overlooking the ever-going forest. I looked up at the sky above me as I saw something not quite right, something that to me, shouldn't be occurring yet. The skies above me were starting to turn to the hues of orange in amongst the greys, beginning to reach late afternoon, and I felt a wave of confusion overcome me. I knew, that I had walked out of that house no later than nine in the morning. So ... I had been doing nothing but powerwalking for a little over eight hours? I was surprised in the beginning that they even let me leave the house, but, I knew better than to think they had left me alone, let me leave like that. There was the replaced tracking device in my arm, so they would always know where I was, unless it broke again, but the likelihood of that was very slim, I knew the second one was more resistant to what Kurama said to be psychic, or sonic damage. I didn't care what he really meant. All it meant that the miracle that happened for a few seconds before hand was not going to happen again.

I slowly looked down at my throbbing ankles, my mind slowly ticking onwards to overtime as I slowly gazed down my pale limbs – or rather, previously pale limbs. I could feel shock slowly overcoming me as I continued to examine my legs. I knew I had left the house in bare foot, so I expected, maybe, a few scratches, or a few red marks from walking barefoot for too long, but, I didn't expect what I saw. Dark, nearly black bruises were running up my legs, from the bottoms of my ankles, right through to half way up my calves, moreso on my left leg than my right leg. They seemed to run up the lines of the muscles, rather than just engulfing the whole limb. I slowly traced my fingertips along the bruising lines, ignoring the more severe twinges of pain as I pressed into them lightly, and I felt confusion overcome me as I realised the bruises ran up the muscles that were working while I was walking like I was. I must have put so much strain on my limbs that they litterally bruised up severely trying to keep up with my demands. It truly did highlight my frailty. I knew for a fact that any normal person would only have gotten blisters, nor gotten huge, alarmingly black bruises all up the legs.

I could feel my body begin to grow weak. I really must have overworked my body for it to be doing this to me now, to begin to stop working the moment I let up a little bit. I could feel that my throat was dry, and my eyes were sore. My whole body was in fact, very sore. I felt very dehydrated, like, I had been sitting out in the scorching summer heat for the whole day without water, when in fact, it was the later weeks of Autumn, nearly winter, when it would start snowing. Or ... perhaps it was about to snow, I could feel the intense cold beginning to overcome me as I remained motionless. My body seemed to always do what I didn't want it to do. My mind seemed to torture me every chance it got, with the dreams, and making my body injure itself with the injuries in the dreams. It was torture in itself, and all I wanted to do was to fall into dreamless sleep for once. But my mind was too good for me, it seemed, my will, and my body was too frail to combat it, to reject it's demands.

But then again, I was truly quite frail, for an unknown creature ... for a human even. It didn't seem like my identity, my race was going to be revealed any time soon. I hated not knowing who or what I was, I hated just being thrown into a giant mess and pinned to the stake like a presumed witch in the burnings. I didn't do anything wrong ... did I? I didn't kill anyone ... I didn't torture or mutilate anyone. All I did, was to live, to be born into this world. Why was my existence now being scrutinised, like they were expecting that I was going to suddenly decide killing people was going to be fun? I just wanted to be left alone, to move on with my life like any human could. Even ... if it meant I would be alone for the rest of my life, I was prepared to live that way. Was that so wrong that the powers that be wanted to have me either executed or incarcerated for all eternity?

I slowly curled up into a sitting position, my knees brought up to my chest as I remained silent and motionless. I slowly opened my hand with the photograph crumpled up in it, feeling pain course through my hand slowly, and I could tell that my burn had dried out around the photograph. It didn't really matter to me, it just made it more difficult to release my hold on the photograph. I managed to flatten the photograph enough to be able to examine it, feeling my hands shake as I wiped away some of the crusted blood, and, I stared down at the image before me. There were three beings in the photograph. One, an elegant, beautiful woman. She looked to be in her late twenties. She had long, black hair that reached down to her knees in a long braid, a few traces of her hair handing down her forehead lightly. Her porcelean skin brought out the ebony in her eyes, though the colour was normally a very warm one, the feel to her appearingly beautiful eyes was cold. She was wearing an olive long-sleved dress with brown trim, and she was standing with her hands folded in front of her, standing just behind one of the two children in the photograph with an almost visibly false smile. I could tell it was false.

The child that stood just before the woman, had porcelien skin as well, an almost pixie-like look to her. Her silver hair fell down her cheeks, shoulders and back in waves of slight curls like a cascading waterfall, and her silver eyes matched her hair identically. Her face boasted a gloating smile, a sincerely gloating smile in comparison to the woman's smile, and her stance was more energetic, eager to be seen. She was wearing a pale yellow petticoat over a white dress with a black skirt, and a little straw hat sat upon her head neatly, as if she had just been dressed up for the photograph only. And the second child, was the one that stuck out as the odd thing in the photograph, for she didn't suit the image of the delicately dressed, elegant woman and child that were clearly mother and child from the shapes of their features. The child looked no older than four, the same age as the young gloating girl, however, there was no life to her, as the other two seemingly had. She had long, unkempt hair of a muddy teal colour, which ran down to past the bottom of the photograph. Her skin was so pale that she looked sickly, incredibly sickly, and, her eyes showed no life, a dull grey colour that stared at the camera. She was dressed in a less neat and elegant outfit than the girl that was clearly her twin, her outfit consisted of only a small, black dress and a small white cardigan. Her form was much more frail than that of the other little girl. I couldn't help, as I looked at the girl's wrists, but to run my hands over my own wrists, the signs of shackles were enough to make me shiver from discomfort.

Every time it looked like I had finally managed to take a step forward, _every time, _I found myself being dragged backwards another three steps. Why was it so hard for me to move on? Why was it so hard for everyone to leave me be? I continuously found myself wondering why I even bothered, why I tried living when every time I moved, someone grabbed me by the throat and dragged me right back to where I had started from. I curled up even tighter into a slight ball, my gaze remaining on the photograph as I felt a cold wind sweep past me mercilessly. It wasn't like I was trying to conquer the world, it wasn't like I was trying to kill someone either. I just wanted to live alone, free to live and free to die at my own choice. But my mind didn't want to allow me that, and it looked like the people around me didn't want that either.

I felt the tiniest hints of sprinkling rain touch my bare limbs, the tiniest hints of the weather that I really did love, but why did it come at a time I didn't want it to? I felt the rain slowly beginning to pick up, and slowly, I closed my hand the photograph was in and pulling it to my chest slowly. It was then, that I noticed something on the back of the photograph. It didn't feel like the normal texture of the photograph, but rather, some kind of calligraphic paint that had a rough, grainy texture, like poorly ground charcoal. I slowly turned the photograph over in my hand, ignoring the pain as the edges of the paper scraped against the burns. It was very faint, a glance at my burns told me that most of the ink had been rubbed into my hand. I almost didn't want to read it. The slow thoughts of mine had only just begun to wonder on who could have left this picture? It was like, someone knew my whole life story and was sending me bits and pieces to torment me with, perhaps another being that didn't want me to live a silent life. I slowly forced myself to read the writing. It was definitely an old-style calligraphy, and the writing was so decorative, though it was faded, that I could almost not read it. But, much to my dislike, I could still read it. 'Your spirit detectives can't protect you forever', it read, and, like a ten kilogram weight, the words sunk one by one into the pit of my stomach, anchoring themselves on the strings of my heart painfully.

It began to pour with rain soon, and I closed my eyes slowly as I brought the photograph to my chest and curled up a little bit more. There was no way out, not anymore. Even if I ran away, the people that were trying to get to me, they would find me if spirit world didn't. I clenched my eyes shut tight as I fought against crying, I promised myself I'd never cry again. I broke that promise once, I wasn't going to break it again.

------------

The faint sounds of footsteps met my numb ears as I remained semi-conscious, the wind sweeping against my frozen form. Apathy had fallen over me like a black veil, the curtain between an audience and the stage, and I just didn't want that curtain to come back up. I remained silent, my agonisingly better than normal hearing picking up on the footsteps without too much trouble. I guess, the hearing, was something that I had to live with now, probably one of the traits that made me not human.

I heard the footsteps come to a stop just behind me, probably three or four meters behind me if I had to venture a guess. The wind still seemed to howl slightly, the rain hadn't let out, and I began to wonder why the person behind me had come out in this weather in the first place. The scent of fire and ash reached my senses after a few moments, and I realised why they were here, and I ventured a guess, that this person, I had met before. I heard nothing from him, that, I had expected, for he had only ever spoken two sentences to me in all of the time I had been incarcerated. And taking this into consideration, I knew what was going to happen, inevitably. I didn't want to go back ... but it was inevitable.

"Please ..." I began to plead, feeling my vocal chords protest, but I managed to keep my voice somewhat normal ... which was the best I could do. "Can I stay out here ... just a little longer?" I heard silence, and I could feel their gaze upon me, it was almost painful just sitting there like that. After several moments, I heard them begin to step away, and, I felt the breath I took cause my throat severe pain. Was he letting me stay out here for a little while longer? I didn't move an inch, remaining silent and motionless as I listened, and, I heard him leap up into a tree several meters away. I bit my lip slightly, letting my mind begin to numb away, trying to abolish the futile feeling in me by replacing it with sickening apathy.


	24. The Hanging Scythe Of Indifference

**_-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]- _**

_**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: The Hanging Scythe Of Indifference**_

For the most part, I had been in a nearly sleepless state, more or less just staring out at the stormy scenery when I couldn't take staring at the black of my eyelids. The storm, however heavy and violent it was to a certain extent, inevitably, it wasn't fierce enough to stop me from falling into slumber it seemed. I had been feeling the cold rain hitting my form with force, then, as if I had merely imagined the storm, I was indoors, lying on my bed staring up at the ceiling above me. For once in my life, I wanted nothing more than to be stuck outside in the middle of the storm, out in the pouring rain and crashing thunder. I didn't remember walking to the house, I didn't even remember getting to my feet, and yet ... here I was, back inside the house that I so desperately wanted to get out of. I could feel that I was soaked with water, so I must not have been in the house that long, maybe a minute or two ... perhaps. I slowly sat upright, my eyes tracing the the walls slowly as I felt the pain of my hands flare slightly. I could feel bandages against the palms of my hands, and it began to make me feel sick. I placed my gaze to the mirror frame that was against the wall to my right.

For once, I didn't want to see that mirror back to how it should look, but as I had somehow expected, it was neat and tidy, intact, untouched and undamaged. I just wanted to smash it again, with my own fist, but I didn't even think about that. Thinking about it would just bring me to do it, and I assumed that this was probably the fourth mirror this month. I didn't believe in seven years bad luck with these mirrors, if that had been the case, then I wouldn't have been forced into this stupid agreement in the first place, and if there was such a thing, then with every mirror I had broken up until now, I'd probably be dead by now. I took my gaze from the mirror after a few moments, and I slowly got to my feet, my fingertips twitching from the cold slightly. A new change of clothes would actually do me some good at least, I didn't need influenza to make things even worse for me. I went to take my jumper off, but as my bandaged hand brushed against the side of my face, I fell frozen after a moment. There was a slight feline scent to the bandages, not that rose scent that I had expected, with bitterness. It had me think for a few moments. The one that had that scent, was Kuwabara, I understood from what I had seen and heard, that he rather liked cats, so, perhaps the feline scent was a pet in his human household? I understood that he went home every second day just to visit a feline first of all. So, Kuwabara must have bandaged my hands. I must have really made Kurama and Yusuke mad then if Kuwabara of all people was the one that bandaged my hands up for me. The frown across my face softened slightly. Maybe Kuwabara did believe me when I said I didn't do anything to that mirror. With that in mind, I didn't remove the bandages from my hands like I had been prepared to a few moments beforehand.

Dressed in a pair of baggy black pants, slippers, and a baggy, black jumper with the Chinese characters 'Death' and 'Rebirth' running down the left side in silver, I began to make my way upstairs for some reason. I was still freezing cold, but, I was prepared to live with that. I looked down at the bandages around my hands as I felt them catch on the button of my jumper suddenly, and I was confirmed of my suspicions of Kuwabara having done my bandages for me – they were much looser, and erratically done than Kurama's bandaging. The fool didn't know how to bandage injuries properly then, however, I was grateful in a way, I could visibly tell that it wasn't Kurama. I could hear someone in the kitchen, and I could hear someone upstairs. The faint sound of music echoing met my hearing as I opened the door to my room, and, I gathered that the music was definately someone other than Hiei. I couldn't see either Hiei or Kurama listening to music. In fact, the only two people I could picture having music blaring away, was me, and Yusuke. My legs took me towards the kitchen, my long hair trailing along the floor as I walked, and I realised what it was that I wanted as I stepped through the doorway silently. No sounds of acknowledgement met me as I stepped in silently, even though I could see Kurama sitting at the bench in the kitchen, apparently reading a bundle of papers sitting on the counter in front of him Perhaps study papers. Though, as I stepped over to the cupboard, I felt a gaze fall upon me.

"I wasn't expecting you to be awake so soon." I heard Kurama say, and I looked at him momentarily, though not saying anything. That patient look was across his face again, and I just looked away from him when I got sick of it, which was no more than two seconds later. "Try the top right cupboard." Kurama said after a moment, and I bit my lip at that tone in his voice.

"Thank you." I said simply, and I began to head to the said cupboard. Much to what I had expected to see, he knew what I was looking for it seemed. I saw a lifetime supply of glasses, well to me, it was a lifetime supply of glasses. I grabbed one, still feeling the gaze upon my back as I moved silently. Why was what I did so interesting? I shook my head slightly as I stepped over to the sink silently, and, as I retrieved some water, I heard the sounds of unfamiliar footsteps approaching the kitchen. I didn't look up in the least as I heard them step through the kitchen doorway, crouching down in front of the sink where the water flavoring was kept.

"Hey, Kurama, where do you keep the chips?" Came a female's voice, quite friendly at a thought, I guessed, but I thought on it no more than that. I tended to mix badly with other females, I could only take Motoko for small amounts of time. They all liked completely different things to me, and it was that bad that I just didn't bother acknowledging that they existed – normally.

"The cupboard next to the Oven."

"Thanks. Yusuke didn't want to get off his lazy butt and get them for himself." Came the voice again, and I could hear a _lot _of complaint in this one sentence. However, my thoughts were pulled to a stop as I heard a slight gasp of shock. "Oh, hello, I didn't see you there." Came the voice, and I looked up at her as I got to my feet. Brown eyes, brown hair. She was maybe two or three years older than me by looks, and, as I took a proper look at her to commit her image to memory, she looked like she was staring at something sickeningly adorable. "Aww, you're so cute!" She said, and I took a step back from her immediately. I'm CUTE?!? She giggled at my reaction, and I felt a small wave of annoyance wash over me momentarily as I watched her.

"This is Meia, Keiko. I forgot the two of you haven't met yet." Came Kurama's voice from the counter where he was sitting, and I inlined my head forward in greating as Keiko looked back at me from Kurama. "Meia happens to be staying with us until Koenma gives his approval for her to leave. She has actually been living with us for a little over three weeks."

"Oh, I see." Keiko said at a glance at Kurama, then she looked back at me. "It's very nice to meet you, I'm Keiko, unfortunately, a friend of Yusuke's." I inclined my head forward again in acknowledgement. "Anyway. Better get the chips for his magesty. He's still in a bad mood." Keiko said, stepping around me to go and retrieve the chips, her shoulder bumping mine as she stepped past me, however, I felt a slight flickering of pain course through where she bumped me as an image of a frowning Yusuke popped into my mind. I narrowed my eyes upon my glass of purple water for a moment, beginning to think as I heard a door open. I hadn't even been thinking of Yusuke, so I had no idea why that picture popped into my head. I began to head out, and towards my room as I heard Keiko beginning to rummage through the cupboard that Kurama had pointed out for her. So this was Keiko, the one I got the impression of that Yusuke fancied, but refused to acknowledge it. That cute comment had just put a downer on it. I didn't like cute, well, rather, I didn't like being _called _cute. I'd rather just be me, and just that. If everyone started calling me cute, I'd be dragged into every damn group in University because of my looks. I had seen it happen many a time.

"Meia, did you want anything to eat before you disappear?" I heard Kurama ask, and I shook my head slightly, continuing through towards my room. Locking myself up for the rest of the week sounded like a good idea, My mind was a little numb as I walked, for some reason, but, it wasn't too much of a problem for me, what was problematical was that I had a feeling I was gonna have that dream again, for some reason, and I wanted anything but that. I approached the stairs to my room, and I glanced up as I heard someone stepping down them quietly. I blinked as I saw the form of Hiei stepping down the steps, that same look of bitterness across his face that he seemed to wear everywhere I went, I noticed. He walked right past me without even looking at me, like I didn't exist, and I looked down at the stairs to my room after a moment.

"Oh, Hi Hiei." Came Keiko's voice after a moment, and my gaze narrowed on the stairs as I heard discomfort in her voice. And, there was no response from Hiei. I felt confusion overcome me after a few moments. She sounded like she was nervous to be around Hiei. Why, I wondered, vaguely. In all reality, it really didn't matter to me. I shook my head slightly as I began to head down the stairs, my eyes tracing the grains of the wood steps as I went. It was dark, and, I frowned slightly as I heard the sounds of a grumbling being at the bottom of my stairs. I took a proper look down at the bottom of the stairs, and I saw Kuwabara beginning to head back up the stairs. He seemed to be either frowing, or just bored, and I was slightly curious of that. Normally he'd be playing the gaming console in the loungeroom if he was bored.

"What's up?" I asked, and I saw him look up at me in sudden fright, he didnt yelp though, much to my relief. I had a feeling that it would rebound and make my ears suddenly protest to noise if he yelled down here in this confined space.

"I was wanting to look at your DVD collection!" Kuwabara said, and I frowned slightly.

"Bored of your console, so you need something else to keep you occupied?" I asked sarcastically, and for some strange reason, Kuwabara didn't bite. "Huh, you really must be bored." I said, more to myself than anyone else. I stepped down the stairs, edging past Kuwabara, and opening the door to my room. "Well, look at your hearts content." I commented, stepping into my room as I heard Kuwabara beginning to step down the stairs, that same clumbsy step in his walk as before. If not for that clumbsyness, I would have pinned the sound as Yusuke's footsteps.

"Cool, thanks." He said, and, as I sat down on the edge of my bed, setting the glass on the table gently, I noticed something strange sitting on my desk in the corner of my room. It was another brown little package, and, as I looked up at Kuwabara, I decided not to acknowledge that it was there. My eyes fell upon the drawer that the bloodied photograph was inside, my thoughts remaining muted as I listened to the sounds of Kuwabara muttering sentences under his breath.

"Meia!" I heard Kuwabara say, causing me to look at him. "I don't know what to watch!"

"Well, are you wanting something scary, or something more action-based?" I asked, crossing my arms around my legs and turning to face him on my bed. Kuwabara looked at me after a moment.

"I don't know!" He exclaimed, and I cringed as I felt the sound pierce straight through my head. I hated how his voice did that.

"Well, I'd suggest Silent Hill, but I think Yusuke still has it in his room." I commented, and a glance at my DVD sheld confirmed that fact – the DVD's that I had lent him weeks ago were still in his room. "Halloween's a good Movie, a bit old, but then you've got Halloween Resurection, not a bad movie." I said, thinking for a few moments. "Can you speak English?" I asked curiously, and I saw a sheepish smile cross his face.

"I failed English, many times." He admitted, and I frowned slightly. This was going to be a headache.

"Well ... they might have Japanese Subtitles." I thought outloud, looking up at Kuwabara from the DVD's. "Tell you what, Final Fantasy Seven has Japanese on it, and that's a good movie."

"Huh." Kuwabara said, turning back to the bookshelf after a moment, and a smile crossed my face as I saw him pull out Halloween. All my DVD covers were in English other than the anime, most of that was in Japanese.

"That's not Final Fantasy." I said, and I saw him look at me immediately. "That's Halloween. On the top shelf, half way through the DVD's. Blue spine with Grey lines." I frowned as I saw him look in completely the opposite direction. "My god, you're either blind or stupid, I don't know which." I said bitterly, sliding off the bed carefully and stepping over to where the disk was. For most of my DVD's, they were in english, at least the american ones were, I didn't care about langages since I understood English as fleuently as I understood Japanese. I reached up and grabbed the said DVD, and I could feel Kuwabara's glare upon me as I held the DVD in his face. "Something tells me you don't use your eyes very often, stupid." I commented, and I saw Kuwabara glare at me before he snatched up the DVD and began to head out of the room. I watched him for a few moments. "Where's my thank you?" I asked, and the idiot stopped and turned to look at me. I could see though, that he was resisting the need to smile.

"Thanks." He said, and I scratched the corner of my eye with a forefinger after a moment.

"Do me a favor and retrieve Silent Hill and the Resident Evil DVD's from Yusuke please. He's in a bad mood, and I don't wanna have to put up with him." I commented, and Kuwabara frowned slightly.

"I guess. Don't wanna get burned yourself?" Kuwabara asked, and I couldn't help but smile wryly at that.

"To make up for it, I'llhelp you get him back for the Fake Blood prank when he's in a better mood." I said, and I saw that frown grow more intense.

"You _helped _him!_" _Kuwabara retorted, and I frowned slightly.

"Then let the war begin." I commented, and Kuwabara turned and began to leave, but not before I heard his poor attempt at hiding his laughter.

"See you on the battlefield!" Kuwabara shouted over his shoulder, and I stuck my tongue out at his retreating form. The door closed with a slight thud, and I slowly looked over at the package that was sitting on the desk after a moment. I wasn't going to even go near it until everyone was no longer within meters of my bedroom door, not after the last time. I heard Kuwabara's clumbsy footsteps reach the second floor of the house, and I began to step over to the desk that had the package upon it.

The package was set neatly on the desk, carefully, as if the person that had put it there was worried that if it wasn't placed neatly and perfectly straight on the desk, that someone not wanted to see it would take an interest in it and open it. It was wrapped in the same brown postal paper as the original package, and the brown twine was tied around it to keep the paper upon the package. For some reason, I wasn't as apprehensive about the package as I should have been, I knew, that if I had a brain, or at least, if my brain wasn't trying to torture me, that I would be panicking, and I would throw the package away without even looking at it. But, me being me, I guessed, the consequences of raising any alarm about the package over a possibly bleeding package scaring the living hell out of me again was far outweighing my thoughts of self preservation.

I carefully picked up the package by the twine, looking down at the package with a slight aprehensive look across my face – I could feel that the look was there. I slowly placed my gaze upon the knot in the twine, carefully setting the parcel in the palm of my hand. It was no larger than a little jewelery box, like the ones that a necklace just bought from a jeweler would come in. In the instance that the package came in contact with my hand, I felt a cold chill run through my body as another image ran through my mind so fast that I couldn't see more than a black silhouette before it was gone, and it had left me incredibly shaky. Nowhere near as bad as the last package I had received, but just as sudden. I shook my headslightly, taking a firm hold of this package in comparison to the last package. If it was going to eat me, then I would let it eat me, it would probably be better than staying incarcerated in this house for months, if not years.

The twine untied from it's little bow easily, and I let the twine fall from the package as I looked down at the paper. Unfolding the paper carefully, I found myself staring down at a little box, appearingly a jewelery box. This was nowhere near as sinister as I had thought it would be, and I had found myself quite liking the little jewelery box – it was made out of a crystal that looked a little like an aquamarine coloured gem. I could see through the glass, that the jewelery box held a little note inside it, and I had found myself before I even thought, opening the little jewelery box carefully. I didn't understand why I had such a sudden liking for the jewelery box, I just did. I was definitely not one for the jewelery and crystals, but this was pretty. I was almost tempted to take it out right at that moment and look at it outside, asside from the fact that there was no sunlight for another eight hours.

I carefully pulled out the little piece of paper from the jewelery box, flipping it over to the side that the writing was upon, and I felt my eyes widen as I read the script that was neatly written on the other side. The writing, in an old calligraphic font, spelt out three words arranged in a traingle shape with the point angled straight down: Cage, Murder, Death.


	25. The Bird And The Cage

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: The Bird And The Cage**_

The heavy hum of the lack of motion rang through the house as I remained stretched out on the floor of my room, staring up at the ceiling in silence. It had been a while, a few hours, since the last person in the house had gone to bed, and I was the only one left awake as far as I could tell – I could hear Kuwabara's snoring if I listened for it, as well as Yusuke and the girl called Keiko. I assumed that Kurama, was asleep as well, and as for Hiei, other than he had acknowledged my existence, once, maybe twice, I knew nothing about him. For some reason, that suited me just fine. I felt a few of the joints in my back pop uncomfortably as I rolled into a sitting up position, and I frowned as I went into a bendback in one fluid motion to clear out the pops in my back. I went to try and stand back upright straight from my uncomfortable-looking position, but on all of my attempts, I only managed to shift my hands closer to my feet. I used to be able to get back up out of a bendback, it looked like my body had a lot of catching up to do before I could.

After setting myself back down on the floor and rearranging my limbs so I _could _get back to my feet, I glanced over at the little crystal box sitting on my desk. For some strange reason, I could see it better than everything else in the room, like it was emitting a strange blue glow. I shook my head slightly, dragging my attention away from it before I would begin to think _too _much, and I began to head upstairs. I could feel it in my body, and I could especially see it, that I was growing more and more frail the more time went by. I knew I wasn't eating very much, if anything, my arms were looking much thinner than I remembered, but I didn't think it was that bad. It seemed like I was here forever, but I knew it had only been a month, and I could feel irritation overcoming me as I calculated numbers. I opened the door of my bedroom quietly, cringing inwardly as I heard the door creek a little bit – I didn't want anyone coming down to see what it was I was doing.

I stepped up the stairs quietly, my eyes having no trouble in seeing where the steps were, and I could see the tiniest hints of light from the doorway ahead of me. It seemed, that I was not going to have any trouble seeing in the dark anymore either. I headed into the kitchen as silently as I could, listening closely for the sounds of people stirring in their slumber slightly. A glance at the clock in the hallway confirmed that it was very late – it read 3.47am. I slowly blinked as I headed for the kitchen sink, taking hold of the glass that was upside down on the sink and pouring myself a glass of water.

How long had it been since I was last at college? I sat down at the bench carefully as I looked down at the wooden surface. I had apparently spent one week in a coma-like state after the monsters appearances in the Shopping District of town, two thirds of a week after that losing my sanity. There was apparently a month just before that I had been gone. Give or take two, three weeks in between my confrontation with a little white fur ball and waking up in Spirit World Infirmary, I had essentially been in their custody for a little over a month. Wasn't I supposed to have been released two weeks into this? I took a sip of my water as I continued thinking. It was definitely two weeks, to a month at the most they would need to ascertain what was going to happen to me, once and for all, and here I was, sitting in this house, with that invisible leash still tied tightly around my throat like a suffocating noose. There was only so much longer I would last before I would succumb to that being sending those parcels to me. Perhaps ... they were having trouble ascertaining what I was? For some strange reason, the thought didn't seem that improbable. Other than my sight, hearing and smell having improved, there was nothing else at all that was out of the ordinary. The breakings of mirrors, I couldn't even begin to imagine was due to my influence, it wasn't something that I would ever be able to do, without physically throwing my fist through the glass in any case.

If Koenma didn't figure out what I was ... if he didn't convince King Enma that I wasn't going to harm anyone ... were they really going to kill me? Was this going to be the best I would experience, before I'm either incarcerated or executed? There wasn't any doubt in me, not any more in any case, that he would hesitate to kill me if the decision was made. I slowly closed my eyes as I set the glass on the countertop carefully. If it was a choice between the two ... I'd choose death. I couldn't take anything less variable than this form of incarceration. If I was going to be locked up in a white padded cell, or a steel and stone cell, then I'd take death. The incarceration was my equivalent to hell.

I slowly opened my eyes as I saw a slight flickering against my closed eyes, feeling the tiniest of irritation overcome me as I lifted my head off of the palm of my hand and looked up. I had expected that maybe, someone had woken up and come down to see what I was doing. My eyes fell upon a mass of swirling purple energy in the front yard, circulating into itself slowly as I watched it. It looked like one of Koenma's portals, now that I thought about it. But ... why was it hovering outside the front door like that? I reached over to the cutlery drawer with my less-injured hand as I watched the portal, my hand closing over the handle of the smaller-sized meat cleaver in the drawer, and I slowly pulled it out of the drawer and held it at the ready. I couldn't hear anyone coming down the stairs, and I couldn't see anything ... odd about the portal, well, any more odd than the fact that it was swirling outside like that at this time in the morning. I stepped around the counter after a few moments, my eyes remaining upon the portal outside the window as I began to head towards the door.

As I stepped to the front door and slowly opened it, I saw someone suddenly step out of the portal, and I held the cleaver at the ready to strike as I saw the figure turn towards the house through the crack in the door that I had made from opening it slightly. Their features began to come into focus as I watched them, and I slowly lowered the meat cleaver and opened the door as I recognised him. He was the blue ogre, George, that worked for Koenma. It was odd, seeing him here, I didn't even know he could set foot in the Human World.

"Miss Meia, Koenma would like to talk to you." George said as soon as he was within a few meters of me, and I blinked in shock.

"At this time a night?" I asked curiously, and he nodded immediately.

"He said he wanted to talk to you without the Spirit Detectives awareness." George spoke, and I could only blink again. Koenma wanted to talk to me without his spirit detectives knowing? This couldn't be good. "Please, there's only so much time until the Spirit Detectives notice us." George said, and I hesitantly inclined my head forward in a nod. If the people that were coming after me were going to lure me away and then kill me, they had come up with a smart plan. If I really was faced with incarceration and death, I was willing to let these beings kill me to just get it over with. I was tired of this. George began to make his way towards the portal, and I began to follow, the meat cleaver still held in my grip. I didn't really get why, maybe to make sure no one jumped me before I knew what was going on. I felt a gaze fall upon me as soon as I had stepped down onto the ground outside, a piercing gaze that I began to register as belonging to someone of the Spirit Detectives. I paused before the portal, my gaze remaining upon the swirling mass as George stepped through it. I tapped the portal with my fingertips before I stepped through, my gaze narrowed as I walked. The portal lead to somewhere I didn't expect. I was expecting, if anything, to be transported to some cave in the mountains or something, or at the very least, that this _was _a true Koenma portal leading me to the toddler-ruler's office, but what I was looking at was _not _either of those. I was staring out at a large sea of dining tables, all of which seeming to be housing many beings. I blinked, then I saw George wading through the sea of tables to one in particular in the corner closest to me. My gaze then fell upon Koenma sitting at the table, for some reason, in Adult form. I hesitated for a few moments as I managed to put the meat-cleaver in the belt under my long jumper, and then I began to head through the sea of beings towards George and Koenma.

"Ah! Meia! I didn't expect George to convince you to come so soon!" I heard Koenma say, and I said nothing as I came to a stop at the table that he was seated at. I guess he must have gotten tired of eating in his office, so he decided to head out to a restaurant. "Have a seat." I heard him say, and, I hesitantly obliged, making sure I wasn't going to stab myself in the back with the meat cleaver half way through sitting down. "Ogre! Go get a menu for Meia, would you!" He said abruptly, and I leant back in my seat through shock suddenly as George began to leave through the huge crowd of people.

"N-No, I'm fine--" I began, but I cut myself off as Koenma looked at me.

"You'll have to forgive me for saying so, but you look a little on the frail side of things." Koenma commented, causing me to bite my lip. I knew I was on the frail side of things, but I didn't think it was _that _bad. "And there's no need to make me feel guilty for continuing to eat." Koenma commented, and I rather believed that he wouldn't feel guilty in the least. A few moments later, a Menu was dropped down in front of me, as if ending the statement all together. I suppose ... it wouldn't hurt to humor him, while he got around to explaining to me what it was that he had George come and collect me for. I opened the menu after a few moments, trying to find the smallest, and vegetarian thing in the whole menu, and all I could find, was a vegetable chow mein. I blinked, trying to spot any waitress or waiter, or _something_, but all I could see was a pen in the menu, and a dotted line on the menu. "Sign your name to what you want, and it'll be brought over." Came Koenma's voice, and I snapped my gaze up just in time to see him devour a dumpling in one bite – he seemed to eat a lot.

"What?" I said, and I saw him motion to the pen in the menu.

"Sign it with that." He said, then I saw him take one gigantic bite out of a giant spring rol. I hesitantly did as he said. The ink was weird, it was a marble-like colour combination, and the colours seemed to continue swirling around, even on the paper. I clicked the lid back on the pen after a few moments, and then all of a sudden, the ink vanished like a figment of my imagination.

"That's cool." I said without thought, carefully placing the pen back on the menu. There were no prices or anything, so it very much seemed that I wouldn't need to pay, or something. Koenma said nothing as I waited, I just observed the many being that were seated in the huge room, and it was indeed, a spectacle to behold. There were human enough looking people seated here and there, a few ogres, a few of the shade demons that I had come to know to exist, and there were many, many other beings in here. There were half-bird looking creatures, with the hands and feet covered with feathers and their face depicted a kind of bird. There were also half-rhinoceros beings as well, much to my shock. My gaze traced from being to being, not even noticing my chow mein arrive in the least as my gaze fell upon a being with black skin, and a great many tattoos down their form. However, unlike any of the other beings I had looked at, this one locked eyes with me, and she looked mad. She was wearing black leather with white trim over the seams. She had long, black hair reaching down to her hips in dread locks, and she had, for some reason, startling blue eyes. I had, in reality, expected her to be human, but for some reason, my gut told me otherwise.

"What the hell are _you _looking at?!" The woman spat, and I blinked in shock as she rose from her seat and began to approach me. I didn't do anything, what was this human-looking, but clearly not human woman coming towards me like that for? "Is there something funny about a dark skinned woman eating here in a restaurant with--"

"Calm down, Barnette." Koenma stated from where he was sitting, not even looking over from his dumplings.

"Calm down--?! Koenma, I don't care--"

"She hasn't even consciously seen a Kitsune." Koenma stated, looking up at the woman clearly called Barnette, and I could feel curiosity overcoming me. "She was likely just curious because she hasn't seen more than Ogre and Shade Demon." I saw the woman look back at me scathingly, and it was a few moments before she turned on her heel and stomped back to her table. "I'd suggest eating, Meia, before your meal goes cold." I blinked, looking down at the table in front of me to see that indeed, my chow mein had arrived. I blinked before I hesitantly began to eat, hearing Koenma grab something from the pocket of his robes after a few moments.

"I haven't consciously seen a Kitsune?"I asked after a few moments, placing my gaze upon Koenma after a few moments. He looked at me, and then, I saw him smile sheepishly. I had to admit, without that pacifier, he looked quite handsome.

"I think we forgot to tell you, what with Youka attacking you in the infirmary." Koenma stated, and I merely placed my chopsticks down on the plate. "I apologise if this seems rather alarming, but there is only one out of the four Spirit Detectives you currently live with that is in fact, human." I blinked, biting down on my lip as I watched him. Only one? That was a little unexpected. "Kazuma Kuwabara, is a human." I blinked again. "Yusuke, happens to be a sleeper, he is, half demon, and coincidentally, half human. We had believed him human for a great many years. Kurama, is the body of a human, with the spirit of a Fox in his body. The Fox-Demon, Youko Kurama had taken residence in the form of Suichi. And Hiei, well, he's more demon than the rest of them." I blinked again. Hiei was the one I had suspicions of not being human, what with how he acted like he was better than everyone. "Hiei's a fire demon, and he's currently on Probation for a crime or two he's commited." I inclined my head forward after a few moments. With how Hiei acted, that didn't surprise me in the least for some reason. "Now, you eat up, and I'll explain why I had you brought here." He stated, and I obeyed without too much difficulty. Whoever cooked in this place was very, very good. For some strange reason, though I knew there were beings eating meat, I couldn't smell it.

_I guess, there's nothing too drastic to be worried about, I haven't been attacked yet. _I thought slowly, taking another bite of my food, and I glanced up at Koenma to see him place an envelope on the table. I observed it for a few moments before glancing at Koenma again.

"I've had another discussion with my father about your apparent intent on destroying the three worlds." He commented, and I blinked. I was supposed to be intending on destroying three worlds? "My father believes the absolute worst of you, I have no choice but to admit that." I nodded my understanding on that – there was no hope in hell I would have guessed otherwise. "We have come to an agreement which suits both his needs and mine, and it does you a heck of a lot better than what you're enduring now, by the looks of it." I felt a little self-conscious as I saw Koenma take my appearance into consideration again. I really must have looked a wreck.

"And what agreement would that be?" I asked, and, I felt a little nervous as Koenma straightened up in his chair – it appeared he was finished eating.

"The agreement, is actually quite close to what I had been intending in the first place, only, there is a guideline that I wasn't counting on." I swallowed the bite I had just taken, and I set my chopsticks down on my plate again as I watched Koenma. "The guidelines of the agreement, are actually in these envelopes, but I will explain to you what they entail." I inclined my head forward as he motioned to two envelopes on the table in front of him. "You will remain living in the Spirit Detective household until we have ascertained what you are, as we have already ascertained, as my father had to admit, that you did not intend any harm to any of the three words, thanks to Hiei."

"Thanks to Hiei?" I repeated suspiciously, and I saw Koenma smile wryly.

"He does the bare minimum when he's given an order, but his observations on your minds workings were just enough to verify that you were, in fact, living as you were – in the belief that you were human, and living as such."

"Great. He _is _a telepath." I commented sarcastically, and I heard Koenma cough to stop himself from laughing.

"In any case, since we have ascertained that you mean no harm, you are to remain living in the Spirit Detective Household. _However, _that is only living there. You are able to leave the house for any given reason, and you will not be followed on the provisio that you return to the Spirit Detective Household every evening by eight, unless you have given prior notice on your absence." I felt my eyes widened as I stared at Koenma, and I saw him smile at me.

"I-I can leave – on my own?!" I said quietly, and I saw Koenma smile even more.

"You can visit Motoko, and you can attend college again, it is up to you now." Koenma answered, and I could feel myself swelling with glee – it was almost an endeavour and a half not leaping out of the chair and dragging Koenma into an embrace. "However, this is the guideline my father threw in. You are to remain on an instance notice, and anything that your abilities will aid to, will be utilised, even if it's to act as bait to capture an S-class Demon." I blinked, my sudden glee vanishing at that. Bait. It sounded like King Enma was going to keep me on that leash and possibly use me to draw out anyone he wanted hunted down. "It's only until we have ascertained what you are." Koenma must have picked up on my mind set. "However I'm not stupid enough to just leave it at that, though my father believes that's what will be and won't be anything more than that, which is the reason I wanted you here without any of the Spirit Detectives." I blinked in shock, remaining silent as Koenma watched me. "I would like you to attend special training, for self defence, and offence. I'm not willing to send you into any situation without you being able to defend yourself."

"Okay?" I said quietly, and Koenma smiled.

"There is this temple that I would like you to visit every second day, there, you will meet a lady called Genkai. I've already spoken to her about your situation, and she has expressed her desire to help you manage any abilities that you have." I blinked again. "This is to be kept very quiet, so far, only you, Genkai and myself know of this little arrangement, and I would like to keep it as such." I inclined my head forward in understanding, my gaze dropping down to the envelopes. "Now, I suggest you begin to head back, it won't be long before the Spirit Detectives notice your absence." Koenma said, and I nodded. "Keep one of the envelopes with you at all times, and give the other to either Yusuke or Kurama. I don't trustKuwabara to put it somewhere safe." I inclined my head forward, and grabbed both the envelopes, feeling the glee beginning to build up in me as I stood up. "This is the location of the temple, keep this with you." Koenma added, and I was passed another piece of paper. "I take it there's no questions?" I shook my head quickly, and I saw Koenma smile again with a slight chuckle. "Go and hand that to Kurama and then go see Motoko." I grinned suddenly, taking proper hold of the papers.

"Thank you!" I said, then I turned on my heel and began to head for the portal quickly, hearing the tiniest hints of Koenma chuckling slightly. I stepped through the portal at a sprint, not caring about _anything _as I walked. I'm free! I can do whatever I want during daytime now! I stepped through the other side of the portal, and I couldn't stop the huge grin from taking over the whole of my face. I never thought I'd be so happy with just the tiniest of release from my incarceration, I was almost feeling dizzy from the glee.

However, my glee was cut short as I felt the same piercing gaze upon me. I came to a stop, and hesitantly looked up at where it was coming from. Up on the roof, stood who I could immediately tell was Hiei, and I felt my stomach drop as I saw that he was watching me with that same condencending look across his face he wore _everywhere _he went.


	26. The Real Life Of Freedom

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY SIX: The Real Life Of Freedom**_

I blinked as I stared up at the being standing above me, my nerves beginning to set in on me. So much for Koenma's 'Get back before the Spirit Detectives notice my absense', it looked like Hiei had been more than aware of my absense, correction, he was _more than aware _of my absense. I've gotta remember to complain to Koenma about this.

"Uh, hi." I said sheepishly, internally cringing as I saw him shift slightly. He looked mad, he definitely looked mad, at least, I thought he did. But as I thought about it, he always looked in a bad mood, in a certain manner of speaking. It was a few moments before I saw him take a step back from the edge of the roof, and then, for some reason, he suddenly vanished. I blinked, still seeing no sign of the being that Koenma referred to as a fire demon, and I actually rubbed my eyes and looked back at the roof. It took a few moments for that little oddity to sink in on me. He actually vanished? Into thin air?! I frowned after a few moments. No fricking way was _anyone _faster than eyes could follow, I must have blinked at the wrong moment, and he disappeared then. And it was that moment, as I felt my eyes start to hurt, that I actually noticed the sun was beginning to rise, it was shining in my eyes.

"Oh, right!" I said, the huge grin crossing my face again. I looked back down at the two envelopes again, the grin across my face turning nearly insane. I carefully opened the envelope that had my name on it, and slipped the piece of loose paper into it and sealed it back again, and I then put the envelope in the inner pocket of my half jacket I was wearing. "I've gotta hand this in before I crush it." I spoke outloud, and I immediately began to run into the house. Who cares if it's just on Six in the morning?! Kurama was always awake around about this time, and Hiei was definitely up, so all there was left was to wake Kuwabara up! I was going to enjoy very much doing that, He needed another wake-up attack. Yusuke had Keiko over, and I wasn't game enough to go and wake him up. My footsteps thummed lightly, and I paused only to open the door.

"Meia-- is that--" Came Kurama's voice as soon as the door had almost slammed shut.

"Hi!" I said as I just ran past, not waiting for Kurama to finish his statement, or say anything else. I took the stairs two at a time, the rise in altitude not slowing me down in the least. I knew Kuwabara was asleep, I could hear his snoring as I ran, and Yusuke's too come to think of it. I reached the top of the stairs, sprinting down the hallway and grabbing hold of the doorhandle to Kuwabara's room. I opened the door without care, and I located the snoring human on his bed, lying flat on his bed, in essentially the same position as he was the day before. I didn't hesitate in the least, laughing as I took a run up and threw myself at the human.

"Good morning!" I shouted as I landed on Kuwabara, and he suddenly awoke with a suddenly loud blood-curdling scream. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as Kuwabara suddenly sprung backwards several feet and cracked his head on the wall.

"What the?! When the?!" Kuwabara exclaimed, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I managed to release him and lean backwards. "MEIA! What the hell are you doing?!" Kuwabara suddenly yelled, and I froze for a moment, before leaning back a little more. Only, I leant in the wrong direction, and I fell off of the bed and landed on the floor flat on my back. I heard Kuwabara fall silent for a few moments, before he burst out in laughter, which only paused my laughter as I comprehended what had just suddenly happened, before I sprung to my feet in any case.

"Kuwabara, look! Look!" I said quickly, trying to hand him the envelope quickly, which was now crumpled from my running and my sudden attack on Kuwabara. He however, hadn't recovered from his laughter, and I could not contain mine as that look across his face came close to close to crying from laughter.

"What the hell is going on?!" Came a mad voice, and the both of us froze, our laughter being cut off short at that tone. "Some of us are actually _trying _to sleep here!" I turned my head around to look at where the mad voice came from, to see a half-asleep Yusuke standing in the doorway, his hair sticking up in all directions, and he was wearing a pair of blue boxor shorts and a singlet that had my face blank for a few moments. The design that was not normally on any singlet, was a little pink fairy sitting on a cloud, and, I could read the words on the bottom in bright red, Shizuru was here. I saw Yusuke's mad look vanish slightly as covered my mouth with my hands suddenly, but Kuwabara bursting out in sudden laughter made me loose control, and I ended up falling off the bed somewhere in amongst my laughter. "What?! What's so god damn funny _now?!" _Yusuke shouted, and all I could manage to do, was point towards where I knew he was. There was silence from Yusuke for several moments, and then I distinctly heard him yell 'What the hell?!' before I heard Kuwabara fall off of the bed with a deafening thud. "You deliberately planted this in my room!" Yusuke exclaimed, and I was laughing so hard that no sound was coming anymore. "You're gonna pay!"

"It was worth it!" Kuwabara managed to gasp out, and I began to try and focus on breathing now. My head was beginning to sear in pain, I think I was laughing too much. I could still hear Kuwabara laughing, and, I was actually beginning to worry that I was going to suffocate if I continued laughing like this.

"Well this is a sight I haven't seen in a while." Came Kurama's voice, but I remained crumbled on the ground. My cheeks were actually aching, so were my sides, and I could feel my breathing remain erratic as I fought against laughing. I could feel that the meat cleaver had dealt me a little damage, but I couldn't feel any real pain, just the effort of not laughing. I knew it was just a scratch anyway.

"I think Meia's dead." I heard Kuwabara comment with a huge grin in his voice, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing again.

"She's lost her bloody mind!" Yusuke complained, and I successfully stopped myself from laughing at that, but only by waving my hand the envelope was clutched in in the air slightly to try and get them to actually grab it, if it hadn't been crushed into dust particles because I was holding it too tightly. I felt the envelope leave my hand after a few moments,

"How'd you get this?" I heard Kurama's voice ask, and I had recovered enough to be able to push myself upright off of the floor, but not without complete light-headedness overcoming me.

"Koenma gave it to me." I answered, touching a hand to my temple lightly as I heard Kuwabara drag himself off of the floor. Though the light-headedness was only for a few moments, and I then dragged myself to my feet as soon as I was able "Anyway! I'm going to go visit Motoko!" I said, laughing as I immediately ran around the confused-looking, now singlet-less Yusuke, and Kurama, who was reading the piece of paper from Koenma with a slight smile across his face.

"What?! How--" Came Yusuke's exclaiming voice as I stepped out of the room, and I turned to see Kurama smiling at me.

"Could you collect a kilogram of Sugar on your way back for me, Meia? If you're not too busy." Kurama asked, and I couldn't stop the grin from crossing my face completely as I nodded, and began to sprint down the stairs. I didn't even look at the black-clad being seated on the windowsill in the hallway as I took the next set of stairs down to my room, jumping the last four stairs and yanking open the door as soon as I could reach. I wasn't going to come back until dinner, I was free during the daytime, so I was going to spend every last moment of the daylight doing what I wanted, when I wanted, that was that. I immedaitely shut the door behind me and proceeded to throw on a pair of dark demin mini-shorts, a white tank-top, and my knee-high lace up boots. I pulled my hair up in a high pony-tail as I used my feet to pull open the bottom drawer of my chest-of-drawers, and I hooked my foot through the strap of my little brown backpack. I straightened my fringe as I pulled the bag out of the drawer and set it on the floor carefully, then I pushed the drawer shut with my foot. I glanced at the meat cleaver that I had discarded onto the bed, and thought for a few moments, so I stowed the weapon into my bag carefully. I wasn't stupid enough, after that shopping district incident, to go wandering around unarmed, that was just asking for it. I'd return the meat cleaver into the kitchen once I had bought a replacement weapon, which I would do before I went to Genkai's, though I didn't think on it.

For someone that couldn't care less about being fast, I wanted out, and I didn't care about what I left behind, I'd look at that when I got back. I shrugged on a sleeveless half-jacket as I shouldered the bag, throwing in my MP3 player, my envelope and address, and my hand-held gaming console. I hadn't seen my phone for a while, I knew that the device had been seized just in case I decided to try and contact anyone while in my incarceration, so I wasn't that worried about it, but I hadn't seen my purse either. I didn't really need them though, so I wasn't that bothered. I observed myself in the mirror for a few moments, before I turned and began to leave the room quickly. I stepped up the stairs two at a time, my huge grin remaining plastered over my face as I went. First stop, Motoko's! I was gonna drag her out of that apartment, even if it killed me! I began to sprint down the corridor – every second taking my time meant less time out _alone! _

"I'm going to Motoko's! Bye!" I called out loudly as I heard the sounds of Kurama chopping up vegetables, slowing down just enough to open the door before I walked through it.

"Meia! Wait a second!" Came Kurama's voice, and I stopped, and turned around.

"What's up?" I asked, stepping over enough so I could look at him through the door of the kitchen.

"You might want to take the rest of your belongings with you." Kurama stated, and I blinked as I stared blankly at him. The rest of my belongings? I wasn't gonna carry my whole manga collection with me to Motoko's. I saw him merely point to something sitting on the countertop in front of him with the knife he was using at that moment, and I felt a grin cross my face as I saw my mobile phone, and my purse sitting on the countertop neatly.

"Yes! I definitely want them! I'm allowed to have them back?" I asked eagerly as I stepped into the kitchen quickly, and I saw Kurama smile slighty whilst he looked back at his cooking.

"I can't see why not." Kurama commented, and I couldn't help but grin hugely as I grabbed my mobile phone and began to flick through the contacts list. Nothing had changed, nothing at all, asside from one contact that wasn't in the phone previously. I would look at that later, however.

"Thank you! Bye!" I said quickly, grabbing up my purse and beginning to leave the house at a run. I could feel a pair of piercing eyes upon my back, but quite honestly, I didn't care! I looked down at my phone as I continued to jog down the path, the huge grin still plastered across my face as I scrolled down the contacts list and selected my college campus. I pressed dial on my phone, and I held it to my ear, not feeling any strain on my body from the running at all. I glanced at the forest to my right as I heard the dialing tone, and I heard the line suddenly pick up.

"Hello, Tokyo University, this is Utako speaking." Came over the speaker, and I felt that huge grin cross my face in full bloom again – I didn't know this person!

"Hi, my name's Meia Arisawa, I'm just calling about my course--"

"Meia Arisawa of the music department?!" Came over the speaker, and I lost the grin immediately – okay so this woman did know me, but I didn't know her.

"Yes, that's correct." I said, and I couldn't seem to hide the confusion in my voice.

"Oh! You must be calling about your absences." The woman spoke, and I cringed. Yep, a months worth of absences, would definitely be noticed.

"Yeah, that's--"

"Don't you worry! Everything's been taken care of for you!" Utako spoke, and I blinked in shock.

"Excuse me?" I said immediately, coming to a halt as I listened intently.

"Your uncle called us this morning and informed us that you were in an accident last month." I blinked again.

"My uncle?" I repeated, blinking again as I began to become _really _confused.

"Yes, yes, he said you were taken to a special hospital in the United States because of your bone ailments, so that's why we couldn't get hold of you, poor dear, you should take it easy, take a few days extra off." I blinked again, thinking on _who _could have pulled this off, I wasn't out of the bloody states.

"Was his name Koenma, by any chance?" I asked.

"Yes, Koenma Arisawa. A very nice man if I do say so myself." I closed my eyes with an effort not to swear. By the sounds of it, Koenma had gotten hold of _this _woman.

"So I don't need to come in today to get any of my papers?" I asked.

"No, no! Just kick your feet up and relax. There's been an extension on all of your work, so you don't need to stress yourself." Utako spoke, and I fell silent. "We shall see you next monday, and don't hesitate to call us if you feel you can't come in!" Utako spoke, and then the line went dead. Kick my feet up and relax? Not likely! That just gave me more time to wander around all day! I felt my grin cross my face again as I forced the phone call out of my mind, and I went back to jogging into town.

"I can't wait to go back to college!" I said outloud, grinning hugely as I remembered an assignment I would love to redo, to make an old grouch happy. "Oh I'm gonna love writing another essay on the psychology behind Silent Hill for Kaji again." I couldn't stop myself from giggling as I dialed Motoko's number on the phone.

"Hello?" Came Motoko's voice after the third dial, and that huge grin across my face grew even wider as I began to pick up speed – nothing was gonna make me feel crap today.

"Hey!" I said loudly, the grin growing so large that my cheeks began to hurt.

"Meia?" Came Motoko's voice, and I laughed lightly.

"Yeah, it's me!" I said, picking up speed in my jog after a few moments. "Are you out?"

"No, I'm at home, why?" Motoko asked, and I grinned broadly as I spotted the edge of town a few moments later.

"Come outside!" I said, and I could hear the skepticalism in her voice.

"Aren't you still not allowed to be outside or something?"

"Just get outside! I'll probably already be out there by the time you come out, unless that elevator's working for once!"

"What?"

"I'm free, stupid!" I said, but I couldn't contain my laughter. "I'm coming to visit you, first of all! You should feel priviledged!"

"I'm coming!" Motoko said suddenly, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I shoved my phone into my bag and begin to run as fast as I could into town.


	27. The Two Of The Cups

**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]- **

_**CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN: The Two Of The Cups**_

Building after building flew past me as I continued running, and I could now see the apartment buildings. Screw being careful of anyone watching me, I was going to have fun! I turned down a street to the right, with a shortcut that went through an alleyway right next to the apartment buildings, and I pulled my bag closer to me as I began to run faster. I could see someone coming down the front steps of the apartment building, and I immediately began to charge for them as I saw a familiar little pink backpack and bright purple converse. However, it seemed like she didn't notice my hasty advance, and I immediately leapt on her, my arms wrapping tightly around her neck from behind.

"Whoa--!" Motoko's voice suddenly exclaimed, and then I felt her recover her balance. "Meia!" Motoko suddenly shrieked, and I was suddenly hurled to the ground as somehow Motoko squirmed out of my grip without me comprehending, and now _she _was the one clinging to _me! _"I missed you!" Motoko exclaimed, and I had a hard time trying to breathe.

"Motoko – let – go!" I managed to gasp, and I felt the giggling human release me after a few moments. I didn't even look at the people that were looking at the two of us in complete confusion – and it took a lot of work. "Thank you!" I breathed out, massaging my throat with my left hand carefully, my right hand held at the ready to push Motoko back a few feet if she went to cling to me again.

"When'd you get out?" Motoko asked suddenly, and I blinked at the eagerness to her voice.

"Half an hour?" I said, and I carefully got to my feet.

"Wow! I feel special!" Motoko said, and I rolled my eyes as I helped her to her feet.

"Forget that! I want to do something!" I said, and I heard Motoko suddenly burst out in laughter.

"Come on! I know the best place!" Motoko said, and I blinked as she suddenly grabbed me by the wrist and began to drag me onwards.

"On the provisio that we get Ice-Cream first!" I suddenly demanded, and I heard Motoko laugh.

"Of course Miss Grumpy!" Motoko said sarcastically, and I began to pick up speed – Ice Cream was a must, definitely!

"I gotta go somewhere after lunch, but I'm plenty able to do everything in town by then!" I said, a grin crossing my face as I thought of visiting all of my music stores – they probably all missed me, their top spender.

"Aww, you didn't come to see me?" Motoko suddenly whined, and I blinked as I looked at the Sushi bar to my left.

"Yeah I did, why else would I have ordered you out of your apartment?" I retorted, my gaze tracing the holes in the pavement that had recently been mended with cement – the old pavement had a tinge of yellow to it. I looked up at Motoko again as I heard her laugh, and I was suddenly yanked to the right, and we were standing right in front of the Ice-Cream parlor that had opened up years ago. I could feel myself being dragged onwards as my gaze fell on Pen-pen – the parlor's mascot, a giant blue penguin with an ice-cream hat atop his head.

"A triple sunday for me!" Came Motoko's voice, and I snapped into awareness as I heard the mention of Sunday.

"Meia! I didn't recognise you with that outfit!" Came a voice I recognised, and I snapped my gaze to the stall owner. He was a tall, Australian man with brown hair pulled back into a pony-tail. His brown eyes were closed with the smile that he had, and I could see his usual white collared shirt splattered with icecream. It looked like he had been inventing new flavours again. "The usual for you?" He asked, and I looked down at the huge showcase of icecream.

"Gimme the works." I said after a moment, and I heard the storekeeper laugh.

"Whatever you want." He said, beginning to set into work. I could feel my huge grin plastered on my face, and I took to looking at the other stalls around. This part of the shopping district was full of lots of little stalls, many of them I could see was missing, and I could see patches of newly set cement speckled all around the area.

"The news said that a gas-line had been ruptured, and all of the damage was caused by the ground smashing with the force." Came Motoko's voice, and I snapped my gaze to her immediately. "I don't believe them though, it wouldn't have killed fifty odd people with damage like that." I blinked, not saying a word in the least as I began to trace my gaze along the pavement, rather than the stalls.

"The news said that?" I asked, and I heard Motoko make a sound of agreement.

"That's right, you wouldn't know, would you?" Motoko asked, and I looked at her after a moment. She smiled wryly. "Shuichi told me you don't remember anything that happened."

"When did he say that?" I asked, and I saw Motoko's face suddenly become far more placid. "On second thoughts, if you're going to go all mushy on me, then I don't want to know anything." I said, turning my attention back to the wondrous display of icecreams I had seen in a very long time.

"Huh, you're just too prudish!" Motoko suddenly said, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"No, I _live _with Kurama, I don't want to have nightmares of what _you _fantasise if you even so much as hint at it! I get enough nightmares as it is!" I said immediately, and I could feel the look of shock piercing into my back. "I know you, I'm not stupid enough to think your hyperactiveness means your mind's never in the gutters."

"Uhm ... heh heh." I heard Motoko mutter, and I shook my head before I would start to pick up on Motoko's current train of mind. I don't want to know!

"Here you go ladies." Came the voice of the shopkeeper, and I felt my huge grin plaster over my face again as my mind was immediately redirected to the awesomeness that was Ice Cream. "On the house this time. My best customer's back, so I can afford to give these ones out." I felt my grin creep right over my face.

"You're saying I'm your number one customer?" I asked, and I saw the shopkeeper nod immediately.

"You're here every day, if not twice a day! I was really beginning to worry about the business going under until you came in!" I blinked, a sheepish grin crossing my face.

"I didn't think I came in _that _often ..." I said, and I saw the shopkeeper grin broadly.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" He called out as Motoko and myself began to leave, and I couldn't help but laugh at that. I really did show up every day.

"Onwards to the shopping arcade!" Motoko suddenly called out, and I was once again, grabbed by the wrist and pulled onwards.

"Hey! I can walk, idiot!" I exclaimed, and I felt Motoko suddenly release her grip on my wrist. "I was gonna lose my icecream!" I added, then I looked at my icecream. Three scoop cone with sherbert. Awesome!

"You'd better eat it fast, cause we're going shopping!" Motoko suddenly exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." I said in a dismissive manner, and I began to devour my icecream cone. "There's like, five hours, it's only seven in the morning." I commented after a glance at the tower in the far reaches of town, confirming that it was in fact, four past seven.

"So what?! I'm dragging you chothes shopping!" Motoko said, and I frowned.

"Clothes shopping? I'd like to see you try." I commented, and I saw Motoko grin.

"I will try." She said, and I couldn't stop the sound of disapproval from escaping me. "I mean, the way you combine that jacket at that top together is just ... you need some more fashion work." I narrowed my gaze as I saw a hand come creeping through the air straight for my icecream

"Buzz off." I complained, throwing a glare over at Motoko as I saw her hand creep over to steal the wafer-sheet stabbed into my icecream. She didn't listen, and I slapped the back of her hand as soon as she got within a foot of my icecream. A yelp suddenly echoed, and she snatched her hand back, placing where I had hit her against the cup of her sunday.

"That wasn't fair!" She complained, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're the one that didn't ask for one." I commented, and I began to walk ahead. It was going to be a long day, but it was going to be better than sitting inside that house waiting for my freedom. "In any case, clothes shopping can come later, I wanna look at that weapons stall that's hidden in the back of the East Avenue." I stated, and I heard Motoko suddenly squeak.

"You wanna go _there?!" _She suddenly squeaked, and I inclined my head forward in a nod.

"I can't keep Kurama's meat cleaver in my bag for days on end, he's gonna notice it's missing." I commented, and I felt Motoko's gaze melt from me, and I rolled my eyes again before I grabbed her by the arm not holding sunday, and I began to drag her forward. "You're too easily distracted! I'm just going to go in, grab something so I can return Kurama's cleaver to him, then we're out!" I said, and I felt Motoko sudden;y tensen beneath my grip of her.

"Y-You're not dragging _me _are you?!" Motoko suddenly squeaked, and I frowned slightly.

"Suck it up, Princess." I said to her, and I heard a squeak of shock come from the previously bubbly girl. "We'll go clothes shopping afterwards." I released her wrist once I was sure she wasn't going to turn around and run, and I began to devour my icecream again.

"Meia ...?" I heard Motoko say, and I looked back at her, to see her eyeing me oddly.

"What's up?" I asked, and she seemed to hesitate. For a few moments at least.

"Are you feeling alright ...?" She asked, and I blinked in shock, slowing down enough so I could hear her properly. "You're acting strange, like, too happy. Is something going on?" I looked ahead after a few moments, as I nearly walked into a woman with a pram. Apologising quickly, I scooted to the right to get out of the way. "Meia?"

"I'm just happy to be free, I'm enjoying myself." I replied in answer to Motoko's question, though my thoughts trailed to King Enma for a few moments. "I just don't know how long I've got left like this." I began to walk onwards a little faster, glancing at Motoko. "Come on! If I'm going to be enduring the hell that you call Retail Therapy, then we'd better go before the sun goes down!"

"I get to choose what colours!" Motoko suddenly yelled, and I almost glared.

"As long as it's not pink, yellow, green or red." I stated bitterly.

"What?! NO! That's not fair!" Motoko yelled, and I frowned.

"You never buy the clothes, I'm not spending _my _money on clothes that I'm not going to wear!" I retorted, and I heard Motoko make a sulking sound after a few moments.

"Not fair!" Motoko repeated, and I just rolled my eyes. This was definitely going to be a long day.

------------------

I let out a breath as I watched the trees fly past slower and slower, and I could feel weariness taking over my whole body. For someone who only wanted to drag me to the clothes store, Motoko had dragged me all over the city in a matter of five hours. My feet were seriously killing me, and I was beginning to hope that this meeting with Genkai today wasn't going to be involving any form of workout. I knew however that it was pointless to hope for those things – With almost everything over the entire time I was incarcerated, nothing had happened to my benefits. The train came to a halt after several moments, and I forced myself to get to my sore feet and begin to leave the train. I had made Motoko keep most of my gear at her apartment – the hyper girl had ended up making me buy a whole new wardrobe – I was going to make her come with me to carry them back to the house.

I stepped onto the platform, and traced my gaze over the area around me. There were lots of trees, it looked like I was on the outskirts of another forest. I heard the train begin to leave as I continued to look around – I was the only person that got off at this station it seemed. I looked around and spotted a set of steps that lead towards the forest, and I glanced down at the piece of Paper Koenma had given me.

"Take the trail from the eigth station, it will take you through the forest to a little stream." I read outloud, a frown crossing my face after a few moments. "There will be a set of steps leading up the hills, take them and you will come to Genkai's temple." I blinked again, folding up the piece of paper and beginning to head down towards the trail like the piece of paper instructed. It felt like I was being sent the long way around to this temple for some reason, and I had no choice but to shrug the thought away quickly – If I thought on it any longer than I had just done, I'd become very bitter, my feet would see to that.

"Damn." I grumbled as I reached the stream. It was quite dark in this part of the forest, and I could hear the muffled sounds of water trickling. I looked around slowly, and spotted the steps that began to lead up the hill – no, it wasn't a hill. I let out a groan as I took in the sheer size of this so-called hill. "This isn't a hill, it's a freaking mountain!" I exclaimed, swearing under my breath as I heard my voice echo. The sounds of rustling leaves and bushes met my ears, and my eyes shot around the area suddenly. "Damn, better get going!" I said quickly, beginning to head up the steps quickly – if it was some sort of carnivorous creature, I wanted nothing to do with it. The air was heavy, and it didn't help my breathing as I continued up the stairs at a quicker than walking pace, my ears straining to pick up any sounds of anything following me.

"This is gonna take forever!" I complained, still heading up the stairs quickly. I couldn't hear anything following me, but I didn't want to take the chance and slow down to catch my breath. Finally, I could see the top of the mountain-like hill, and I picked up speed so I could get there faster. It seemed to take forever just to get up there, but the green darkness of the forest disappeared and was replaced by early afternoon light, and I came to a stop at the top of the steps to catch my breath. It was so hard jogging up those stairs with my already aching feet, it was scary.

"About time you got here." Came the voice of an old woman after what seemed like split seconds, and I snapped my gaze up to where the voice had come from. My eyes fell upon a short woman with greyish pink hair, and I mean, short – she was shorter than me! She stood to about my chin, and I was about four foot eight or something. "Hmph, you're more frail and sickly than anything else. Koenma should have told me that." I blinked, my mind clicking away as I took in the atmosphere around me. I blinked again as I suddenly saw Genkai step towards me, and I felt my wide gaze turn wider as she seemed to scrutinise my appearance even more. "You better not be like that slacker, or I'll hit you upside the head."

"Excuse me?" I said immediately, and I blinked as she said nothing and began to head towards the building that I had not even had the chance to look at.

"Come on, Slacker, there's no point in standing at the back gate." The woman began to head towards a shrine-looking building, and I shook my head to clear my mind of the sudden change in events. I guessed, that this was Genkai, of course, but I was a little too stumped to have comprehended at the beginning. "I don't want to waste my time waiting for you to get off your boney butt and follow me." I heard Genkai call out, and I bit my lip at that comment. Why was everyone regarding me as a sickly little person like I was now suddenly very foul looking? I forced the thought away and began to follow the woman towards the shrine, where she was currently opening the door with a hand. The whole area had a comfortable feel to it, and I could feel myself enjoying the atmosphere, without comments of course. I paused at the steps to the shrine door long enough to take off my shoes, and I stepped into the shrine carefully.

"About time. Take a seat at the table." Came Genkai's voice, and I blinked – I hadn't even had an instance to look around. I located Genkai again, to see her standing towards the right wall, her attention _seeming _upon a piece of paper that looked close to mine from Koenma, and another form right next to her caught my attention, so I looked at the figure. I blinked in shock. Standing next to Genkai was someone that I didn't expect to see, for some strange reason. She stood to the same height as me, her skin a pale colour, just like mine, and locks of ice-blue hair fell down her shoulders and back. Her crimson eyes were full of kindness, the complete opposite of Hiei's, and, as I watched her, I could feel myself being drawn towards her.

"Hello, I'm Yukina." She spoke, and I saw her smile sincerely at me. "You must be Meia, It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

I couldn't even manage to shake the freeze out of my mind, all I could do was blink.


	28. Symphony Of The Darkest Treasures

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: Symphony Of The Darkest Treasures**_

I could feel my legs almost refuse to work as I strolled ever so slowly towards the house. My eyes were drooping shut as I felt as if I was about to collapse. It was a little before dusk, and I could see faintly ahead of me, both the hints of Motoko running ahead of me, and the hints of the Spirit Detective Household. As if I was dead tired from running all over the damn city with Motoko for the morning, I had been doing laps for Genaki all afternoon. She said something about building up my stamina before she had me do anything that was remotely close to useful. Until everything was all sorted out and routeen, I was under orders to think Genkai's name as Futako, fair enough, what with a telepath that I was beginning to dislike, I understood completely the need to use different names. But I didn't like the idea that anything I thought at all at any time of the night was going to be heard. Of course I didn't like it! I was visiting Genkai every second day now to go and get training to defend myself, which by the sounds of it from Koenma, his father King Enma was going to murder if he ever found out about it. It's not like I was scared of the fire apparition myself, I was more worried about what would happen if he heard me thinking these things. Oh it was so painful just thinking about it then!

"Hurry up Meia! You're slower than an elderly woman!" Came Motoko's voice, and I flinched in reaction to that.

"Leave me alone! Everyone's been dragging me around the city all day!" I shouted at Motoko, and I could distinctly hear a sound of annoyance come from her. I could hear the sounds of a stovetop sizzling away as I got within ten meters of the house, and I felt an almost sick look cross my face as I began to count down. Three ... Two ... One ---

"Shuichi!" Motoko squeaked, and I just felt the need to gag – I understood the girl liked Kurama, but I could literally see pictures in my head of all the goey thoughts and fantasy's that I knew ran through the girl's mind – I was the unfortunate idiot to not drift off into fairy land when Motoko went on to one of her fantasy describing sessions. "How're you?"

"I'm quite well, Motoko." Came Kurama's voice, and I dragged myself up those steps of the house. Oh how I wanted to just collapse onto the bed down in the basement and not wake up for a good three days. "What brings you out here, if I may ask?"

"She had to lug all of the gear she made me buy here." I said loudly, and I stepped into the house to see through the doorway, that Motoko had immediately b-lined for the kitchen counter. I could see Kurama standing at the stove, and I stepped in to place the kilo of Sugar on the counter. "There's your sugar anyway." I commented, turning to leave as I heard Motoko beginning to reel in her thoughts. It was better to leave the over-enthusiastic girl to her devices, or rather, her admiration.

"I'm assuming you're going straight to bed, Meia?" Came Kurama's voice, and I merely gave a thumbs up over my shoulder to answer as I proceeded to drag myself towards my lair. I could hear the sounds of Kuwabara running around upstairs, and I could hear that Yusuke was here, as well as Keiko again, however, it was of no relevance to me really. The sooner I collapsed onto the bed, the sooner I would be able to drown out that sickly gabble that Motoko was going to start spewing. The girl wasn't afraid to show her affections at least, though she went overboard with it a lot of the time. I stepped down the stairs slowly, making sure I didn't suddenly fall down them like Kuwabara usually does, and I was down on the landing as I heard Motoko begin to spew her nonsense. I could hear it now.

"God damn it, stop being so god damn pathetic with your words." I complained to Motoko, as if she was standing right in front of me, however I knew she wasn't. I opened the door to my room and stepped in without proper coordination. My mind was beginning to ache as I shut the door behind me, and as the scent of something unfamiliar met my senses, my eyes drifted over to where the source of the smell was coming from. For some strange reason, the sight of the brown paper-wrapped package sitting on my desk didn't surprise me in the least, and I could feel a sense of routeen begin to overcome me at the thought of these appearing packages. However, I didn't want to really look at the package just yet, a shower was first in line, after essentially doing nothing but running all day, I thought I deserved a shower.

I could feel a dull pressure in the back of my mind begin to make itself known, as well as the dull buzzing that began to echo through my ears as I began to trudge into the bathroom. My gaze, as I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, fell upon the mirror, where the girl that always stared back at me resided. I could feel the confusion overcoming me as I looked at the frail girl in the glass, The girl did look more frail than she usually did, and she had shadows under her eyes. She did look a wreck, but maybe that was just because of the running around all day. Yeah, that was likely it. I shook my head slightly and began to remove my new bag from my shoulders as I locked the door with the twist of the tab in the handle. The bag was black, with metal chains hanging from it's pockets. Motoko had really gone and dragged me all over the city, but it gave me opportunity to go grab some things I believed I should have. Like, something to take the place of Kurama's meat cleaver, which was in the bottom of my little brown bag, still there, untouched, unmoved. I placed the black bag on the floor next to the door, carefully beginning to shrug off my half-jacket as I watched the frail girl in the mirror – did I look that pale normally? I blinked slowly, and proceeded to strip, heading for the shower. In essence, the wall that was nothing but mirrors, I really didn't like it, but there was nothing for it.

I looked down at my ankles as I removed my knee-high boots carefully, my gaze tracing the noticeable swelling – I really had been running around all day, my ankles looked twice the size they normally did. And they were tender, I could feel that as I stepped on the cold tiled floor with my bare feet. I could feel the jet of warm water begin to soothe my sore limbs as I stepped under it carefully – I was too sore for the usual cold shower. I closed my eyes slowly as I untied my hair, beginning to think on what exactly I had been doing. I could almost not believe that I had been outside all on my own, deciding what I was doing until this afternoon, and it felt good. I had taken the feeling for granted when I was able to do whatever I wanted before, and now that I could see it, I wished I had done more with my time than do the bare minimum – go to university, come home, hang out with Motoko for a little while, then go back to University the next day. It felt so old, so routeen, and I could have done so much more than that.

I felt my ankles twinge again as I shifted my weight onto my other foot, and I thought of how much I had been running. Five hours doing nothing but walking, running, standing with Motoko while she dragged me all over the city was already agony enough, but I had been running laps around the temple. And I mean, laps. Circle after circle, all around the inner perimeter of the temple. I was told that it was to try and build up a bit of muscle, and I could almost feel the strain in my calves five minutes into the running. I barely did any physical activity before today, and if this was going to be my lifestyle from now on, I had better find something enjoyable to do so I don't become insane. Perhaps something equally as beneficial for my work that I was not supposed to be thinking about. The modern dancing looked a lot of fun, I had watched people playing Dance-Dance Revolution, it looked entertaining, and I knew most of the music that they were using for the songs. Of course, Motoko wouldn't let me live it down.

Turning the water off, I stepped out of the shower, and I reached for the towel that was hanging over the rail next to the cupboard that held a lot of my belongings. I could feel my hair shift against my heels as I wrapped the towel around me, and I frowned deeply – It wasn't too long until I had to cut my hair right back, if it was going to be dragging along the floor soon. I looked up at the door to make my way over, but something from the corner of my eye caught my attention, so, I looked over at what had caught my attention. My gaze fell upon the mirror, and suddenly, I threw myself back from the mirror, and my head cracked into the wall at my back. Words were written in the concensation that had covered the mirror, as if someone had just walked in not ten seconds ago and wrote them in the mirror while I was in the shower.

_'You're never alone.' _Was what the mirror said, and I could feel my heart racing away in my chest. My mind was reeling as I stared at the glass, and the condensation on the mirror began to trail lines as the drops of water grew and fell, and the words began to become a little distorted. When the hell did that get there?! The only way someone could have gotten in was through the door, and I could have sworn I had locked that. I stepped over to the door numbly, ignoring the pain in the back of my head as I grabbed hold of the door handle, turning it ever so slowly. The door-handle stopped barely a few moments later, and I couldn't turn it the full rotation to actually open it, which proved that it was still locked, and it could _only _be locked from the inside, I had tested that before. Where the hell did the person that wrote those letters disappear to?! How the hell did they get in when the door was locked, and there's no ventilation shafts?! I blinked. _You're never alone. _Those words had me beginning to panic, and I could feel my hands shaking as I stepped over to the cupboards shakily, and I yanked the doors open suddenly. The cupboards, as I had hoped, only contained my belongings, I could even see the bottom of the cupboards. I blinked slowly, closing the cupboards again and rereading the words on the mirror. That was written by someone, I wasn't imagining it, and, they had to have done it in the room, while I was in here, the words weren't there before I had stepped into the shower, and, it was written into the condensation, so it had to have been written just before I stepped out. I didn't hear _anything, _nor did I see anything when I glanced out at the towel on the rack once or twice. Was I beginning to lose my mind?!

The sound of Kuwabara yelping snapped me out of my scenario so suddenly I nearly slipped, but I saved myself, and I snapped my gaze up to the ceiling as I heard the sudden thud of an overly tall human crashing to the wooden floor upstairs. I blinked quickly, carefully unlocking the door with my shaking fingertips, and slowly opening the door. As soon as I could feel that I had gotten the door open, I stepped through quickly, and closed the door behind me. If I stared at that mirror any longer, I was going to go insane, I was sure of it. I leant back on the bathroom door carefully, looking around the room in front of me as I fought to slow my racing heart, and I fought to keep my mind on track as my thoughts began to wander onto what would happen if anyone could just wander in and out of my room, while I was still _awake _to see them, and yet, I didn't even hear them come in! My gaze fell upon the parcel sitting neatly and innocently on my desk. Like that for instance, they've been coming in and out while I've been away, and suddenly I was not so comfortable with that strange package sitting there.

I began to head towards the desk quickly, ignoring the sounds of footsteps upstairs, and I could feel the foreboding of all of the package appearances finally setting in on me again. I had to admit, I wasn't that worried before. I picked up the package in my fingertips, carefully pulling the thread that was tied around it as I took a step back and sat down on the bed. Unfolding the paper from the package, I found myself staring down at a sapphire coloured Ocarina, made of a very similar substance to the little jewelery box that had come before. It was larger than most ocarina's I had seen, and I couldn't seem to focus as I stared down at it. The crystal had been worn down a little bit over the finger holes, and there were a couple of strange marks in the substance, just under where the right hand would be if one was to play it, and I found myself looking down at it with a sense of recognition. The strange marks formed together to spell out the kanji for water. I ran my fingertips over the crystal ocarina as a small smile crossed my face, and, I could feel the alarm that I had been feeling before completely vanish in a matter of ten seconds. I had thought the ocarina had been broken, when I was much younger, but, here it was, in exactly the same state as it was the last time I had seen it.

I stared into the ocarina as I ran my fingertips over the holes in the crystal instrument. Something caught my fingertip suddenly, causing me to look down at where it was. The tiniest corner of a piece of paper was poking out of the third note hole in the left side, and, I carefully pulled it out of the ocarina. There was no sense in leaving it in the ocarina. The piece of paper, turned out to be another note from the person that had been leaving the parcels here, as I had expected, and I carefully unrolled the scroll of paper as I set the ocarina down in my lap.

_'Be careful.' _was what the paper read, and, I carefully set the piece of paper on my lap as I began to think. That didn't sound like something someone trying to come after me would say, definitely not.

A knock echoed a split second later, and I looked over in time to see the door suddenly open. Motoko's head poked through the door, and I blinked as she seemed to smirk.

"Hey, Meia!" Motoko sung, and I couldn't help but to blink again. Motoko seemed to be acting a little fruity-like. "Can I sleep over tonight?"

"Why?" I asked immediately, and as if someone was mentally slapping me, I suddenly realised as to why as she seemed to smile with a lot of energy. "You don't want to leave cause Kurama's here."

"No! Kurama invited me over for dinner!" Motoko said immediately, just like a little kid would when they were denying something incredibly embarrassing, or denying something that would have their best friend mock them for years on end. I just rolled my eyes at that statement, and, I took hold of the ocarina in my lap.

"I'm sure that's the case." I said sarcastically, and I turned back to my Ocarina.

"But it's true!" Motoko complained, and I slowly felt the smile cross my face again as I watched the ocarina.

"Sure, you can stay in here." I ended up answering, and I heard the sounds of glee suddenly erupt from Motoko.

"Great!" Motoko exclaimed, and I blinked as I heard her hesitate as she began to close the door. "Uh, you might want to get dressed." Motoko commented, and I blinked as I heard the door close.

"I might want to get dressed ...?" I repeated, and I looked down at myself consciously as I felt confusion sink in on me. "Oh hell!" I said as I noticed that I was still in my towel. Setting the Ocarina and Note in the drawer where the jewelery box and other notes were, I began to set about getting changed, once I made sure the door was actually locked.


	29. The Silver Pieces

**[Authors Notes]** Hey guys, I've got a poll on my profile page, I was wondering if yous could take it for me. I'm just trying to gather information on what the people that read my fics think should be in a fiction, and all of that. Thanks heaps!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY NINE: The Silver Pieces**_

The sensations of fresh pain began to run through my whole being as I remained silent and motionless, my mind beginning to slowly churn away at what was there. For some strange reason, I felt like I didn't know this sensation. I felt the sensations of pain running straight through me, like something was poking and prodding me with a burning hot poker, right through my stomach, and through my heart. Silence was all that I could hear, and silence was all that I felt I could cope with, for some reason I couldn't seem to comprehend.

After several moments, my vision began to clear, and , I realised that, once again, I was in one of my dream states. My body's eyes continued to open slowly, and, as I began to wonder what had happened to me this time, I could feel that there was something very wrong. I was ... upright, for some reason I couldn't comprehend. I was staring out at something I hadn't seen before, a part of the caverns I had never been able to see, due to lying on the ground in exactly the same position over, and over again, where I was staring at the roots of the tree that was supposed to be right in front of me. I tried to pay special attention to what was going on – this was very strange, I knew it, even though I was somewhat used to my dreams, this kind of change in the dreams was ... unexpected.

I felt my body blink her eyes after a few moments, and, as her head tilted to the left slightly, I suddenly pieced together where I was. There was a large indentation on the wall just on the very edge of my vision, and I was beginning to feel the confusion overcoming me. I was upright, and against the crystal tree it seemed, only, I wasn't sitting on the ground, I could feel my body's feet dangling below her, like she was pinned to the tree like a poster on a pin-up board. I felt my body slowly blink, and I felt a flickering of intense pain as my body tried to shift slighlty, and, my gaze went as far as possible as I felt my body carefully lift her hands up and grab hold of something plunging straight through her stomach. The pain of ice cold ran straight through my bodie's hands, and I could feel the pain cause me to wish to be anywhere else. It looked like, from the very little I could see through the gaze of my body, that there were long, stalagmite-like shards of ice plunged through my stomach, just above where my heart was, and through my shoulders. I couldn't feel those ones though. My body tried to pull the icicle that was through her stomach clean from her body, but she didn't even budge it, and all that I was met with was severe, and agonising pain.

"Oh Meia." Came the tiniest hints of a voice, echoing throughout the completely sealed room as my body remained motionless. My confusion was increasing by ten-fold. There had never been another voice, not even another person, aside from that one dream that I had almost lost it over. I could feel the pain still coursing through my dream self's body, and as I felt her rest the left side of her head against the tree, I saw a long, elegant white hand slowly coming through the trunk ot the crystal tree. If I had _any _control of my body, my eyes would be wide with horror, anything, but she was just as tired and slow moving as she had been before the arm had appeared, or even the voice. I felt another arm touch the shoulder of my body as I saw the arm in front of me wrap around my shoulders, and I felt a weight suddenly set itself on my body's other shoulder. "Are you going to give me what I need, yet?"

"You ... should release ... me ..." Came the voice that belonged to my dream-self's body in this set of circumstances, and my eyes widened at the sound of her voice. She sounded like she had lived a great many years worth of turmoil and torture, and she did quite frankly sound like she was about to die, not that several large shards of ice through her body like she was a pin-up butterfly in a display cabinet took anything away from that.

"What's wrong with this? I'm just giving you a hug, god knows you miss them dearly, now." I felt my dream self tilt her head further away from where this being's head was. "Oh, that's right, you don't want anything to do with living creatures anymore." Silence greeted the being's statement, and I was left feeling ... a little confused. Why was I not wanting anything to do with anything still living? "I'm sorry, I'm babbling, I just feel, a little nostalgic at the moment." Came the voice again, speaking into my body's ear. I could feel the shiver run through the body so suddenly. "Give me what I want, what I need, and, I can end this pathetic set up, kill everyone. It's what we both want, really, if you think about it."

"I've ... said no ... more than enough ... times." My dream body spoke, and I felt complete confusion overcome me as I heard that voice giggle slightly. I would have though the voice would have been pretty mad to hear that.

"Aww, didn't Papa ever tell you, you shouldn't underestimate a Veiku?" Spoke that voice, and I felt my dream self shift fractionally. "Oh, I forgot. Your Mama broke him and locked him away years ago."

"The answer still ... stands." I felt my body say, and, I felt the arms slowly begin to release me.

"That's too bad." Came that voice, and, I could feel the being climb more out of the tree. "I was hoping that, given what had happened, that you'd see to reason." I felt horror overcome me as a form came into my body's vision, and, I was left staring at silver eyes. "I'll come back tomorrow morning." I felt all forms of understanding leave me as that form leant forward and kissed my body on the forehead.

* * *

My eyes snapped open as I awoke with a jolt, my heart racing as my eyes snapped over the room, taking in everything as I tried to ascertain where I was. My mind was thick with pure, concentrated confusion, and it was like my body was hard wired to that confusion as I felt myself suddenly drag myself upright so I could see where I was a little better. The sounds of something rattling badly was beginning to come to my attention, and I hesitantly looked at the bed side table to my right. Despite my racing heart, it wasn't made any worse as I saw that it was my mobile phone, newly returned to me, that I had someone calling me. I slowly released the breath that threatened to suffocate me, and I hesitantly picked up the flashing and vibrating phone.

"Hello ...?" I spoke quietly, holdng the phone to my ear as I placed my gaze upon the bed covers. I still felt a little pained and worn out, but that was the least of my concerns.

"Meia! I'm so glad you're awake!" Came Motoko's voice, and I had to hold the phone away from my ear so I wasn't deafened by her pitch. This better hearing was beginning to piss me right off, I could handle the highest pitch of Motoko's voice before.

"I'm awake because you woke me up." I seethed, and I heard her suddenly burst out in laughter.

"I'm sorry!" Motoko sung, and, I rest my elbows on my knees as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Can I sleep over again?"

"What--?! Again?" I asked confusion crossing my face as I took the phone away from my ear and looked at the time – it was 5.13am according to the phone, and I felt a scowl cross my face. "You were here less than twelve hours ago. Are you planning on living here?" I demanded, and, I got no giggle from Motoko in the least, much to my confusion. The silence continued, and, I felt my scowl cross my face again, and this time, I could almost feel a little green. "_Motoko!_"

"What?! What'd I miss?" Came Motoko's panicked voice, and I glared at the bed covers.

"Talk to me before I pick up on what you're fantasizing about! And believe me, I will murder you if you torture me with that."

"What do you mean, torture? It's beautiful!" Motoko said in shock, and my glare become more potent.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke, you twisted fan-girl." I seethed.

"Damn, it's almost as if she can read my mind." I heard Motoko say to herself.

"I'm glad I _can't, _otherwise I'd have already killed myself if not _you_!" I spat.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so snippy." I heard Motoko say. "Anyway, can I come over or not?" I almost felt green as she said that, I had only just gotten the horror of her last stay out of my system – I did quite literally feel quite ill when she was over.

"I don't know ..." I said slowly.

"Please, Meia? Pretty please?" Motoko begged, and I scowled. Gone were the days that I thought it was good that Kurama had told me that Motoko was one they could have over all the time and there'd be no problem unless I had one. Now Motoko only had to ask me, and she was over.

"I'm not gonna be here until--"

"I'll bring you a two litre tub of Strawberry, Boysenberry and Vanilla Sherbert icecream free of charge!" I heard Motoko cut in, and I almost fell from the bed. "From Pen-Pen Icecreamary of course." Silence met her statement, I could feel like I was being torn apart at the seams – I wanted to avoid all illness-inducing conversations, and hearing illness-inducing fantasies that she seemed to have to tell me about ... but ... Damn that bloody girl!

"What --"

"I'll even pay for it." I heard Motoko add, and I almost screamed. She had this planned out from the very beginning! I swear!

"That's not --"

"I'll bring chocolate coated wafers too." I heard Motoko add simply, and I did almost begin to cry. I can't ... resist ... She probably had the whole lot sitting on the counter in front of her. I took in a breath as I felt my resolve break into a million shards of broken glass, almost literally, I did want to break a mirror at that moment.

"You monster!" I whimpered, and I heard a giggle from Motoko.

"Good, so I'll see you at twelve." She stated, and I hung my head.

"No, you're coming after dark, I've got someone I've gotta visit." I cut in, and I heard a sound of complaint. "I'm going, no matter what, and Kurama's not going to be here until six in the evening anyway." I lied, biting down on my tongue as I heard Motoko nearly cry.

"Why-- Not Kurama!" Motoko whimpered, and, I slowly flopped onto my stomach.

"Sorry to cut you short, but I gotta start getting ready to get going." I commented, and I heard Motoko grumble something that I didn't understand. "After dark, got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am." I heard Motoko say slowly, and I almost smirked at her disappointment. Teach her for torturing me.

"Gotta go, see you later." I said, then hung up. I merely tossed the phone onto the bed without care, squishing my face into the covers as I tried to comprehend how she had suddenly gotten the upper hand on me. She had it planned, I swear, no one could have won that quickly with bribes ... well ... she just did ... How _could _she use my weakness for icecream against me!?

_'It's what we both want, really, if you think about it'_ Echoed through my head slowly, faintly, yet loud enough for me to notice. I sat up carefully, staring at the bed covers as I thought carefully. That dream ... it wasn't like normal ... it looked like ... my dreams were going to start getting more strange, weird by the moment. I slowly got to my feet, deciding to actually start getting ready to head out, Genkai was probably going to want me to do more laps of her temple. Thinking her name as Futako was so problematic, but I succeeded, I wasn't that stupid, with a Telepath in the house that seemed to catch me at the worst possible moment, it was beneficial to think Genkai's name as Futako.

* * *

I stepped up the steps of the temple that Genkai lived in, my gaze tracing the area as I walked. Unlike the last few times, there was no Genkai standing around waiting for me. Although, I knew where she was, for some reason, I could almost feel her presence over in the living quarters of the temple grounds.

"Hmm, it seems the Brain Donner's here." I heard Genkai's voice speak faintly, and I felt a frown cross my face. Did she just call me Brain Donner? "I suppose I had better go and call them." A door slid open as I came within a few meters of it, and the form that was Yukina stepped out carefully. She had a kind smile, like she always did, and I saw her hold out a cup of Tea to me.

"Welcome back, Genkai is bringing some people over to meet you, you should have a rest before you get into your training."

"Okay?" I said quietly, taking the cup of tea as I stepped onto the verandah carefully, seeing Yukina step into the living quarters carefully after a few moments. So much for keeping my training under strict confidentiality in case someone came across it. I sat down on one of the mats next to the table, and I watched as Yukina disappeared through the doorway that lead to the other parts of the living quarters I dared not to go down – this wasn't my house, so I wasn't going to set foot there. I placed my cup of tea on the table carefully, and just began to drift off into thought.


	30. The Trading Of Hands

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY: The Trading Of Hands**_

My gaze slowly traced the interior of the main living quarters as I listened to what was going on around me. I could hear Yukina in the next room, I could hear her humming a slight tune that was somewhat familiar to me, though I thought nothing of it, my gaze flicking to the cup of tea that I had been handed upon arriving here. It had been ten minutes since Genkai had disappeared – though she hadn't so much as greeted me in the least before she disappeared – she just walked right off the moment she anticipated that I was here. She made it look like a chore to have me around, she certainly made it sound like it too. I had been coming here, as per Koenma's orders, for the past ten days, and I had done exactly what Genkai had instructed me – do laps of the Temple grounds until Genkai said to stop, do push-ups until I couldn't do anymore, and then it was back to laps around the temple.

I had no real idea as to what it was all about, not even the temptation of ice-cream was enough to tide me over for another batch of workouts. I was always that dead tired after coming back from Genkai's, that I was essentially a walking corpse until I came within three square meters of something to collapse on, then, apparently I was out like a light – I had been told by a laughing Yusuke that I had just spontaneously collapsed into the beanbag in the loungeroom the second day of my training with Genkai, apparently, according to the sleeper, that he had to rescue me from suffocating in beanbag sponge – that damn chair-like object was twice the size of me, and I have a tendency to sink in those things. I didn't remember collapsing into anything, so I had to take Yusuke's word as fact – though I dare not trust what he says about a great many other things, like who attempted to attack me with pies the other day, I know it was Yusuke, but he denied it.

"Well, she should be right in here." Came Genkai's grudging voice, and I remained silent, taking a sip of my tea as I remained silent and mostly motionless – Oolong tea, not my favorite, but I was willing to cope with it. Three sets of footsteps met my ears, and I listened curiously – Yukina made it sound like there was only one person coming, though I didn't understand why Genkai was wanting to introduce me to anyone in the least – this training _was _supposed to be kept under wraps so that Spirit World beings other than Koenma didn't find out about this – I was rumored to be the destroyer of all the worlds, from what I could gather, so kinda having people teaching me to defend myself, was not such a good thing. I got the impression that it was an instant beheading if anyone found out, and I didn't really want to die, that's why I was still working incredibly hard in blocking out all thoughts of my training hours before I would go back to the spirit detective household. "Hey! Brain Donner!" Came Genkai's grudging voice, and, as I reluctantly looked over – the term Brain Donner was already beginning to get to me, though I got the impression that 'Slacker' was someone else that she had mistakenly called me out of habbit. My gaze didn't fall upon Genkai, but to another two beings – I had instantaneously forgotten that Genkai was even there as I looked at the two people that were standing just behind Genkai. My nose told me that neither of them were from around this place, they had the scent of something very far away.

To Genkai's left was a man that looked to be about Yusuke's height, a red head, with long hair that spiked up in all directions like a whirlwind, and he had deep blue eyes. He had, to my slight surprise, long, pointed ears, and I could see a horn upon his forehead through his wild hair. His clothes confirmed to me that he was definitely not from around this place, he was wearing sandals, bracers on his arms, and he was wearing white pants. Aside from a couple of lengths of the white material that went over his shoulders and back, he was essentially wearing nothing on his top half. An incredibly weird clothing combination, in my opinion anyway. He had the air of someone quite energetic and loud-spoken, and I had to blink twice so I wouldn't be too overcome by the sight in front of me.

The other, was a shorter man, standing probably a couple of inches shorter than the red-headed man, and someone by the looks of it, had a cool and collected disposition. He had his hair pulled back, mostly blue, though I couldn't see terribly much right at that moment. He was sporting a green side fringe, and he had blueish white eyes that just made goosebumps run up my spine. He was wearing a tight-fit top with fishnet, and he had a white sash that went over one shoulder, similar to the other's odd clothes. He had the very similar pants, almost like they were kung-fu pants, and he was wearing similar sandals to the red-haired one as well. I only had to blink once to register the picture in my mind, and then, I placed my gaze upon Genkai as I heard her clear her throat loudly.

"Now that I've got your attention." I heard Genkai grumble, and I blinked in slight shock, though I kept silent as I held the tea in my hands carefully. "These two are Jin-" Genkai motioned to the red headed being that I could instantly tell was not human. "- and Touya." She motioned to the other, the one that was watching me with a slight smirk. I got the impression that the one called Touya, was one of the cunning side, perhaps not so much as Kurama, but close enough. I inclined my head forward slightly.

"Nice to meet you." I spoke, and I saw the one called Jin grin broadly as the one called Touya inclined his head forward slightly.

"These two are from Demon World, and they will be taking over with teaching you to fight." Genkai finished, and I blinked as I looked back at her.

"Hang on!" I said immedaitely, and Genkai cast me a look of slight agitation. "I thought you were supposed to be the one teaching me! What--"

"What that brat doesn't seem to realise is that I'm _human. _I grow old, and I become useless. I'm not going to teach some Brain-Donner with this old body, until you've learnt to fight well enough to fight these two on equal footing." Genkai proceeded to explain, and by the end of it, I was wearing a frown that was putting Genkai's to shame.

"Thanks for that vote of my uselessness." I commented bitterly.

"Get up and get to work. You sit there and daydream any more and I'm going to die of old age." Genkai ordered me, and I felt a scowl cross my face as I _almost _ignored her. I set my cup down on the table, and then placed my gaze to the two called Jin, and Touya.

"My name's Meia Arisawa In any case." I said after a few moments, throwing a scathing look towards the room that Genkai had disappeared into. "Not Brain Donner."

"I didn't think you'd be called Brain-Donner." I heard the one called Touya comment, and I felt a fractional smile cross my face. His voice sounded close to what I had expected, the cool and collected type.

"Alrighty. Let's get a wiggle on and see how this wee lass shines in the patch!" Came a very, _very _different sounding voice, very odd, almost irish. It had me blinking, and in the need to ascertain who spoke, I looked to the one called Jin. "She looks like she's seen a ghost or somethin', never mind. There's a good wind about her no problem. I'm gonna enjoy myself a little fun time." I blinked again as I saw that it was the one called Jin speaking.

"Jin, maybe you should try talking slower for a while." I heard Touya speak after a few moments. I blinked again, and I got to my feet carefully after a few moments.

"So, dubbed teachers, what am I learning today?" I asked simply, and I saw Touya smirk slightly as Jin's huge grin faded momentarily, until he clicked on to what I had just asked.

"Well, I think a little bit of working with hand to hand would be a given." Touya spoke, and I nodded slightly, beginning to follow as Jin began to lead the way with a huge grin, the door sliding open suddenly as I looked from Jin to Touya, then back to Jin again.

"Wonder if she has any wiggle in her step?" I heard Jin asked, and I blinked in sudden shock at that statement.

"Wiggle in my step?" I repeated, and I earned a slight smile from Touya as Jin just laughed and began to sprint ahead.

"Power in your punch, I think would be an appropriate translation." Touya answered for me, and I smiled gratefully – this Jin person didn't speak at all like a normal person. Well, that was a bit of a perculiar statement for me to make, neither of them, I could tell for some reason, weren't human, I was definitely certain about that. "So, you're friends with Koenma's spirit detectives, right?" Touya asked, and I nodded slightly.

"Yes, I live with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei at the moment." I answered, and I blinked as I thought I saw Jin's ears twitch slightly.

"I understand that your training is to be kept secret." Touya stated, and I nodded slightly as I noticed that we had come to the large expanse of clearing that was at the back of Genkai's temple.

"Yes, Koenma doesn't want anyone knowing." I answered, and, as I came to a stop after a few moments, Jin and Touya did the same.

"No problem, we'll just make sure to work you into the ground every day you're here, so you're trained up well sooner." Touya spoke, and I found myself liking this Touya – aside from the 'work-you-into-the-ground' comment, that sounded like it was going to be a hassle. "We'll just show you a thing or two about what we'll be working on once you can punch right." Touya commented, and as I was about to relax my stance, a sudden force hit me square in the jaw. I couldn't feel too much after that, my jaw, and the side of my face was killing me, it felt like I had just been punched in the jaw and sent flying. I tried to regain my footing, but for some reason, my feet weren't touching anything, and I felt the pain of my body hitting the hard ground.

"Wow, she wen't flying like a leaf in a whirlwind!" I heard someone say faintly, and I blinked in shock as I opened my eyes, and I found myself staring up at the sky above me, a severe pain running through the side of my face as I felt lines of cold fluids running down my chin and neck.

"Jin! She's not even--"

"What the hell was that for?!" I shouted as I dragged myself upright, not even checking the damage as I leered over at the one that I knew had hit me – Jin, who looked at me with a confused look across his face.

"You said y'were a friend of Urameshi now, I--"

"What the hell does that have to do with you punching me?!" I demanded, my glare becoming more potent as I saw Jin look at me with a look that said he was confused as to why I was getting so upset.

"Unfortunately, it looks like Jin got a little carried away." Touya spoke, his smirk that had previously been across his face was now completely gone. "Our meeting with Yusuke and the others was in fact through a tournament, so we're kinda in the field of fighting, rather than the other fields that humans have." Touya explained, but that didn't stop me from glaring at Jin.

"I don't care about that." I ground out, dragging myself to my feet with a glare as I stared Jin down. "What I care about is why I was punched, and I hadn't even done anything yet."

"Whoee, she has a lot of grumble in her now, don't she?" Jin spoke as he watched me, and I could feel the need to punch Jin's lights out begin to grow more potent the longer I listened to his god forsaken nonsense. "Her winds whipping around like a typhoon now, I think I made her mad."

"I don't blame her." I heard Touya speak, and I glanced at him from Jin as I heard him exhale deeply after a few moments. "In any case, I think I can handle this from here, Jin, It would be best if you don't antagonise her anymore."

"I wasn't antagonising her, I was just seein' if she had wind in her step, I couldn't help it, my ears were wigglin' and everythin'!" Jin spoke, and my glare grew to a death-gaze in intensity.

"Whatever, I'll catch up with you later. Go pay Yusuke a visit or something." Touya commented, and I blinked as I saw a huge grin cross Jin's face as he contemplated that. After a few moments, as I lifted my hand to wipe my lip with the back of my hand, I saw Jin jump up on the spot for some reason, and as he crossed his legs while in air, he didn't seem to fall back to the ground. I blinked as I stared at Jin as he seemed to hover there in the air, and I could feel the look of shock creeping across my face as Jin suddenly shot into the air. What the hell--?

"Don't forget to say that Keiko pointed you in that direction!" I heard Touya shout up at the disappearing Jin, and I merely blinked as I stared – that was far more ... weird than the breaking of mirrors, I hadn't seen anything about the people I hand around with that was weird, other than the horn poking out of Jin's forehead, and the fact that Koenma transformed into a teenager version of himself from his toddler form. "You look a little surprised." I heard Touya speak, and I looked at him immediately, lowering the hand from the side of my face after a glance at the blood that was across the back of my hand. Touya was standing a few meters in front of me, his arms crossed as he watched me. "Jin and myself are actually Shinobi from the Makai, or Demon World as you're probably more familiar with. Jin is a Wind Master, and I am an Ice Master. We fought Yusuke and the others in the Dark Tournament about seven years ago, I lost to Kurama, and Jin lost to Yusuke. You could say we're the left overs of the pummeling that Yusuke's team had dealt us." I blinked, and straightened up slightly, letting my arm fall to my side after a few moments.

"I see." I spoke, glancing up at the sky. "That bastard took a swipe at me, because he thought I'd be like Yusuke and not budge or something?" I asked, and I saw Touya smile fractionally.

"You could say that." Touya commented, and I saw him lower his arms after a moment. "In all honesty, if you were an average human girl, you'd probably have died from that, but good news is, that you're not normal, let alone human, so it only dealt you a nasty bruise and a split lip." I felt the glare across my face become far more potent after a moment.

"And if I was what Jin was hoping for?" I asked.

"You wouldn't have even budged from where you were standing originally." Touya said without a second thought, and I felt myself frown – I was surprised my jaw hadn't broken from the force of that hit, I could tell that I had been sent flying backwards a few meters at the minimum. These people certainly weren't human, and I was beginning to understand that I wasn't either – Motoko's jaw would have been shattered, and her neck probably would have broken as well. "Now, I think it would be a good idea to start working on your hand-to-hand combat, provided your jaw's not going to give you too much trouble?" I heard Touya suggest, and I glanced down at the dried blood over the back of my hand as thought on that for a moment.

"Let's get started then." I spoke, and I saw Touya smile as he shook his head slightly.


	31. My Merciful Destruction

**[Authors Note]** Alright guys, this is about the second last chapter before it starts cooking up. This is going to be a long fiction, I've already looked at the rest of the story-line (And I admit, I've already written the last couple of chapters, sorry ... O_o) so this is about a third into the story. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this, it's shorter than normal, but I had another piece to add, but it didn't work. There's a Poll on my profile page, please, it would be a big help if you could vote on the poll so I know what readers want to read in a story. Thanks all! Here's chapter Thirty One, and I've got another on the way =)

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: My Merciful Destruction**_

"Damn it, that was irritating." I grumbled as I trekked up the long path through the forest towards the house. The side of my face was still aching really badly, though it had been healed for me so there wouldn't be any noticeable bruising, the split lip, I had kept – it would help explain my bad mood if I handed the blame to someone that I knew for a fact would have loved to take a good swipe or so at me. Genkai hadn't stepped out of the house once in the many hours that I was there, I just spent the whole evening working with Touya on my punches and kicks – apparently I was getting the hang of it, he was going to have me over in the morning again so he could continue my training. I didn't mind in the least, my university course had gone straight through into the usual two month long holiday that was always on at this time of the year, so there was no real need to go back to university – my course had flown by faster than I thought it had, and faster than I would have liked, I had missed out on two months of work, and it was going to be another two months before I could catch up.

But how did Genkai manage to rope Touya and Jin into teaching me instead of her teaching me? That was the agreement that was organised before, not this new thing that was irritating due to one particular person. My hands were aching from the amount of punches I had thrown today, and my feet felt like blisters were forming on the bottom of my feet. Fueling my absolute frustration and irritation at Jin for punching me was my motivation to keep me going on with my training as much as I had this afternoon – I had respect for Touya at least, over Genkai and Jin, who had either punched me in the face, or just told me to do laps around the temple grounds until my feet bled. Touya at least had me working on something more realistic than running around in circles. So, I was to return to the Temple Grounds at approximately nine in the morning, and I was working until my knuckles bled, and my feet refused to work. That suited me fine, to a certain extent.

The house came into my view after a few moments, and my consciousness was beginning to fade on me – Motoko only really came to spend time with Kurama, I was certain every person in the whole house was certain of that, and I was feeling, a little happy about that fact – it meant I could recuperate a little bit in between Motoko annoying me, and Motoko going to make a fool of herself drooling over Kurama. I was nice enough not to point out to her how stupid she looked when she was drooling, she'd murder me for it. I stepped up the steps slowly, my mind beginning to unravel completely as I heard the sounds of Kurama's cooking – I didn't want anything, I felt like I was gonna collapse at any given moment. I lifted my hand to grab the doorhandle after a few moments, and, I flinched as I heard the sounds of something suddenly stepping on the front porch steps.

"Meia!" Shrieked a suddenly horrid voice, and I found myself barely a moment later stumbling forward as a huge weight suddenly collided into my back. The force of the being suddenly jumping on my had me stumble forward a pace that I physically couldn't take, and I cracked my head against the wood of the door with a loud thunk, and then my knees gave way with the same result. I hadn't even had time to recover myself, let alone make a noise, and a gust of wind escaped my lungs as I fell to the floor with a crunch on my ribs as I fell onto my side. "How are you today?!" Came that voice, and I could hear the giggling as I began to seethe as I felt something trail down my forehead slightly.

"Pissed enough to murder you if you don't get off of me right this instant!" I spat, and I felt the release of me come instantaneously, much to their benefit.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" Came the voice of Motoko, and I sat up as I turned to glare at her.

"You didn't startle me, you _faceplanted _me into the door!" I spat, pointing at the place where I had obviously hit my head, where a nice little dent was now located in the chiseled border. However, Motoko didn't look at the door, she was still staring at my face.

"I'd be laughing at how you said that if you weren't bleeding." Motoko spoke, and I almost flinched as the door opened.

"What're you two doing down there?" Came Yusuke's voice, and I looked up to glare at him as he looked between the two of us with a raised eyebrow. "Sounded like someone had broken a step or something."

"No." I said bitterly, and I turned my glaring gaze to the suddenly sheepish Motoko.

"It was an accident!" Motoko complained, and I merely remained silent.

"What was?" Yusuke asked, a tone of curiosity in his voice.

"She faceplanted me into the door." I snapped, and, as Motoko seemed to cringe, I heard Yusuke suddenly burst out into laughter.

"She faceplanted you?! Into the door?!" Yusuke repeated, and I didn't even move as I felt my agitation beginning to grow more intense. After a few moments, as I wiped the blood from my bleeding forehead, I felt Yusuke look away from my form with a slight chuckle. "Hell, this door's made of hard wood!" I heard Yusuke state, and I glared as I got to my feet, ignoring the wavering of my feet as I began to head inside. "You've got a hard head! What is this? Jarrah or something?" I heard Yusuke shout after me, and I just rolled my eyes as I walked into the kitchen. My gaze flicked to Motoko, who was following with a little bit of distance, and I noticed that Kurama had disappeared out of the kitchen for some reason. My gaze flickered from Motoko, to the counter, and I set myself down on the stool that stood to the right, sitting with my arms crossed as I looked at Motoko.

"Did you bring it?" I asked, and I ignored the sounds of Yusuke still chuckling away as he followed.

"Of course I did, what do you take me for?" Motoko asked, and I remained silent as I watched her, and I heard Yusuke come to a stop next to me. I saw Motoko roll her eyes as she pulled off her backpack, and I watched as she set a plain white container on the counter in front of me. No label was on the two litre tub, and I was grateful. I placed my gaze back on Motoko as she then pulled out the chocolate coated Wafer sheets, and placed them on top of the tub.

"What's in the tub?" I heard Yusuke ask, and I glanced at him momentarily.

"Her bribe." I commented, and I grabbed the tub and put it in the freezer, my need to keep the icecream for myself winning over the need to eat it now and reveal to one of the two people in the house that I knew would eat my icecream.

"What? She bribed you so she could faceplant you?" Yusuke asked, and I resisted the urge to hit him upside the head.

"Of course not." I said, grabbing the chocolate coated wafers, and I took one of the pack of twenty. I heard silence from Motoko as I heard Yusuke begin to wonder what Motoko had to bribe me for as I looked at her. "Kitty is pleased with your offering." I gave in and spoke, and I saw Motoko suddenly grin. I rolled my eyes, taking the bag of chocolate-coated wafers, and began to leave the kitchen.

"Wha-- Kitty?!" I heard Yusuke say as I left the room, and I nodded my head towards the form that was Kurama as I saw him coming down the passageway from the stairs.

"Ah, I thought it was you Meia, when I heard that loud crash." Kurama commented, and I nodded slightly. "I take it Motoko's here too?" Kurama asked, and I frowned intensely as I heard the sounds of Yusuke following me meet my ears,

"She's in pounce mode, I warn you now, you may need a wooden stick to keep her at bay." I commented bitterly, and I frowned as I saw Kurama smile slightly.

"I'll keep that in mind." Kurama replied, and I felt the frown across my face turn into a slight scowl as the both of us continued on our ways – me to my room, and Kurama obviously to the kitchen. I could feel all irritation beginning to leave me completely as I began to head down towards my room, taking a bite out of my chocolate coated wafer as those footsteps continued to follow.

"Meia! Wait up!" I heard Yusuke shout, and I almost glared as I came to a stop, right at the top of the stairs, and I turned to look at the approaching, and confused looking Yusuke. "Bribe for what?" Yusuke asked as he came to a halt in front of me, and I stared at him with a deadpan look – if it was Kuwabara asking this, I'd not be surprised. I shook my head after a few moments, a slight smile crossing my face as I held up the bag of wafers for him to grab one.

"Bribe for sleeping over. Want one?" I commented, and I saw a look of understanding cross Yusuke's face as he grabbed a Wafer sheet from my bag.

"_Right._ Insane friend that you can only take in small doses. I should have already known that." Yusuke commented, and I frowned as I heard a high-pitched voice suddenly exclaim 'Shuichi!'

"I swear, if her insanity doesn't drive me to kill myself, her traitorous bribes will." I spoke, and I began to head down the stairs, only to come to a halt a few steps down as I came to a thought – if Yusuke was that curious over why Motoko wanted to bribe me ... "You touch my icecream, you will die a slow and painful death!" I seethed up the stairs to the now confused Yusuke.

"She bribed you with icecream?" Yusuke asked, a look of mild surprise mingling in with his confused look as I glared.

"Touch it, you die." I repeated, and as Yusuke gave a kind of sarcastic salute, I saw the back of the ever-silent Hiei walking down towards the kitchen, the stairs no longer hiding him from view. I thought nothing of it, and looked back at Yusuke, who was chomping on his Chocolate-coated wafer sheet. I merely turned around and began to head down the stairs again, and the sound of Yusuke beginning to walk off met my hearing. "I swear ... she'll be the death of me." I grumbled under my breath as the sounds of Motoko's excited speaking with Kurama met my hearing, and I opened the door to my room. I merely dropped the bag I had slung over my shoulder as I shut the door behind me with my foot, my weary gaze tracing the room before me as I began to step over towards the mirror that was on the far side of the room. Stepping around my bed, it was easy to tell that there were no mystery parcels tonight, which, for some strange reason, was much to my relief, and disappointment. I was kinda expecting something to be here. Taking off the overjacket I was wearing, I looked myself in the mirror as I merely set the jacket down on the desk to my left.

There was a nice little cut on my forehead, right where I had collected the door, and my lip was indeed split, but the lip wasn't as noticeable as the cut on my forehead – Yukina being a healer was beneficial, she got rid of the bruise before I left off – a split lip was a normal thing, with a human's punch, it was a descent cover story for my crankiness. I didn't think anything of the pale reflection, merely dropping myself onto my bed – if I didn't sleep now, I was going to collapse. I'd have the shower in the morning, my limbs were just suddenly too heavy to trudge over to the bathroom. I couldn't be bothered in even slipping under the covers, my eyes closing as complete weariness overcame me, and the only thing I could hear, was the horribly familiar voice that was completely filled with glee, up in the kitchen.


	32. For The Petty And The Musical

**[Authors Note]**Hey guys, sorry for the lack of writing and everything, I've been really busy here getting myself back organised, and being unnable to write for ages cause of my stupid wrist is also hell, I didn't have the motivation to write while I was able to, and when I had the motivation, I couldn't write cause of my clumsyness. Pathetic excuse, but it's all I got. I didn't forget about you's! I promise! All of my writing should be back to how I was submitting come half way through February, when I start leeching off of college's internet! Yay! My wrist should be better by then too! I'm really sorry for the lack of posting! I promise all of yous, I'll finish this fic before I pull the pin on writing for good (If it ever comes to that). I have two chapters for you to make up for the lack of posting. I'm really sorry about it! I'm writing as much as I can while I'm able to.

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY TWO: For The Petty And The Musical**_

Morning shone like no other barely the third day into Meia's training with Touya, and there was no real difference in anything noticeable. It was nine in the morning, and Kurama sat at the table with a slight smile, sipping on his tea as he looked down at a book he had been reading. Motoko had left for home a little over an hour ago, and Yusuke was sitting in the loungeroom with the gaming consoles, his attention on a certain level of the game that had been giving him trouble. Kurama didn't even look up as he heard something shift upstairs, merely turning the page of his book. Kurama blinked as it seemed to suddenly grow colder by a few degrees, and he merely glanced up from his book. There wasn't anyone else in the house, Kuwabara was downstairs with Meia in her room – After Motoko's departure, it seemed the tall, ginger haired human thought it would be appropriate to annoy Meia.

"NO!" Came a suddenly loud, and pained screaming voice, causing Kurama to snap his gaze to the doorway where the voice had errupted from, and causing Yusuke to suddenly swear in fright.

"What the hell – Meia?!" Yusuke yelled, dropping the controller immediately as he scrambled to his feet and began to tear down towards Meia's room. There were no sounds from below as Kurama followed, and as Yusuke slammed the door of Meia's room open, the faintest hints of another coming down to investigate met Kurama's senses. Kurama came to a halt in the doorway of Meia's room as Kuwabara suddenly burst out in laughter, leaving both Yusuke and Kurama feeling confused. Kurama looked from the laughing Kuwabara, who was sitting on a cussion on the floor, to Meia, who was lying face down on her bed, her arms holding two large pillows over her head, and it was clear she was holding them tightly to block something from her mind, if she could.

"Make it stop! Make it go away!" Kurama could hear Meia's muffled voice choke out, and Kuwabara's laughter just continued as Meia's phone started ringing, and a strange, and quite annoying song echoed throughout the whole room. "No! Anything but the Paffendorf! PLEASE! KILL IT!" Kurama couldn't help but chuckle after a moment as Kuwabara reached over to where the ringing phone was placed.

"That's what you were screaming about? That tiny little tune?" Yusuke asked, and as Kurama turned to began to leave, he halted as he saw Hiei standing on the bottom step, staring into the room with a look of severe agitation across his face.

"What brings you down here this morning, Hiei?" Kurama asked, and he couldn't help but smile slightly as he saw Hiei's eye twitch slightly.

"I came down to kill the source of that noise." Hiei seethed, and Kurama blinked after a moment.

"Meia?"

"No! That infernal tune that's been playing for hours!" Hiei corrected with snap, and Kurama couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he glanced back at Meia.

"You should stop eavesdropping on her thoughts." Kurama commented, and he stepped past the now fuming Hiei to make his way back upstairs.

"I'm going to kill her!" He heard Meia's muffled voice quietly, and he couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping him. Obviously Motoko was responsible for Meia's agony. He began to head towards the kitchen again, hearing the sounds of another body hit the floor with a thud as he stepped up the last step of the stairs to the basement.

"What the hell was that for?!" Came Yusuke's shouting, which caused Kurama to chuckle again as he began to head down the corridor.

"For finding amusement in my misery!" Shouted Meia, and, it was almost in that same instance that a pink silhouette suddenly swooped past the window of the front door ahead of Kurama.

"I couldn't help it!" Yusuke exclaimed loud enough for Kurama to wince slightly, and, he smiled warmly as the door opened after a moment to reveal the blue haired pilot of the river stix.

"Kurama!" Botan spoke energetically.

"Good morning. Another assignment I assume?" Kurama asked, stepping past the approaching Botan to head for the kitchen.

"Bingo!" Botan chirped, following Kurama on her oar as he walked. Another loud thud from downstairs echoed, and a yelp from Kuwabara instantly met the thud. It appeared that Kuwabara was now Meia's victim. "Koenma's been pretty busy with all of this work on the new system for his paperwork, so he's been giving all of his other duties to his other spirit detectives for a few weeks."

"Ah, you must mean the Spirit Detectives from both Egypt and France?" Kurama replied, and his statement was met with a smirk from Botan.

"Yes, even though they're only months into their job's, they're excellent workers, but ..." Botan began, and she then began to tap her bottom lip with a forefinger. "Barnette's been getting rather moody since she was promoted. I think she wants to go back to the French Spirit team."

"So what is this assignment for?" Kurama asked as he stepped towards his seat and book, and he heard Botan shift suddenly on her oar.

"Sorry! Can't tell you!" Botan chirped, and Kurama blinked suddenly, looking at the reaper as she hovered in the doorway of the kitchen. "The assignment's for Meia! And Hiei too I think." Kurama blinked again as he watched Botan as she pulled a small book from the sleeve of her kimono, and he merely smiled as she flicked it open after a moment. "Yep, just for Meia and Hiei. Where are they?" Botan asked, and her question was met with the faint yelp from Kuwabara, then a dull thud.

"I believe Meia is downstairs in her room." Kurama answered, and he smirked slightly as he saw Hiei step into the kitchen from the corner of his eye, though he didn't say anything.

"Great! I'll go get her now!" Botan chirped, and she then began to shoot down towards Meia's room with eaze as Kurama merely placed his attention to the book in his grip as he heard another thud echo through the floor. A sudden yelp of fright echoed again, and Kurama couldn't hide the smile that crept across his face.

"WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?!" Came Yusuke's shouting voice.

"About ten minutes ago."

_'I don't think it's going to get any quieter around here for a very long time.' _Kurama thought, listening to the sounds of the energetic beings that were in the room below.

"NOT ANOTHER ASSIGNMENT! PLEASE!" Came Kuwabara's voice, and Kurama couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping him, and, he felt a frown come his way from the windowsill on the opposite side of the room.

"Oh calm down, I'm not here to take you to the afterlife with me!" Botan's chirping voice came through the floor, and, Kurama merely took to reading the book in his grip. The voices began to lessen in volume, and, as Kurama got to his feet to start organising food a few minutes later, the sounds of footsteps coming towards the kitchen came to his hearing.

"I'm going out!" Meia's voice came, and Kurama looked up to see the girl walking past the door of the passageway casually, her long, misty hair trailing a meter behind her as she walked.

"Come on Hiei! You're coming too!" Came Botan's voice, and Kurama glanced at the said fire apparition, to see him glaring at the pink-clad reaper floating in the doorway. "It's not my fault you've got an assignment, Koenma's the one that chooses who goes on which ones." Botan chimed, and, her statement was met with an even more deadly glare, however Hiei reluctantly obeyed and got to his feet.

"Man, Hiei looks like he's gonna kill Botan." Came Kuwabara's whispering voice as the three beings disappeared through a portal in the front yard, leaving Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara in the house.

"I'm sure he won't." Kurama commented, and he glanced at Yusuke as he stepped into the kitchen. "It looks like I'm cooking for just the three of us. I don't think Hiei or Meia will be back for a while."

"If Meia come's back at all." Yusuke commented without thought, and Kurama said nothing as he set about to start cooking breakfast.

---------------

Silence echoed throughout the whole house as Yusuke stepped down the stairs, his mind buzzing with the thought of what Koenma had requested of Meia – it was definitely not anything to do with her incarceration, as far as he knew, it looked more like a summons for an assignment, like she was a Spirit Detective as well. He was even more stumped as he saw both Meia and Hiei's return back to the house, to see a simply energetic Meia – which was already out of the ordinary, though he was getting used to it – and an incredibly bad tempered Hiei. There was nothing that signified any real assignment, Hiei never got _that _bad tempered over an assignment, and it was clearly not something to do with Meia's incarceration, as far as he could tell, otherwise Meia'd either be so happy she'd be laughing non-stop like a few days before-hand, or right back to that silent, melancholy struck girl that quite plainly made him want to be anywhere else but in the same room as her.

He glanced down the stairs to the basement as he reached the bottom floor of the building, and he saw no sign that Meia was inside her room – there was no music playing as far as he could tell, and there was no real light slipping through the gap beneath the door. So she must be somewhere around the house, Yusuke was certain of it.

Yusuke stepped through the doorway to the kitchen, his mind beginning to trail onto Hiei's out-of-character bad mood – Well, kinda out of character, Hiei was always in a bad mood, but he was never in such a bad mood unless someone did something to really, absolutely and positively piss him off. He blinked as he came to a halt at the sight of a familiar form kneeling in front of the freezer. His gaze picked up on the open freezer door, and he could see long, misty blue hair covering the floor and shoulders of the person kneeling, and Yusuke immediately knew it was Meia.

He had never encountered her kneeling in front of the freezer before, he had just assumed that Meia never touched anything edible unless she was certain it had never been within ten meters of anything of bleeding flesh, so it was a bit of a surprise. He approached her – she was normally far more alert than this, she seemed to be preoccupied with something that she had in her grip. The oddity of her behaviour at that moment was what had him forget about the oddity of that morning, and focus on what was going on now.

"What're you doing?" Yusuke asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as he glanced at the clock – it was well past eleven at night, and Yusuke had just assumed everyone had gone to bed already. He got no response, and it struck a nerve – Meia always responded to other people speaking, even if they weren't talking to her. He stepped over, and he saw a white container that resembled that ice cream container Motoko had brought as a bribe to stay the night. It was nearly empty, aside from a tablespoon worth of half-melted icecream sitting on the bottom of the container.

"You ate it all already?" Yusuke asked, only, it didn't seem convincing – if she had, would she really be sitting on the floor staring into the icecream container as if she was staring at something incredibly interesting and mind-boggling? He looked at her face over her shoulder after a moment, and, a wave of shock and pure confusion overcame him – she looked shattered, like her best friend had just died.

"It's ... gone ..." Meia whispered, her gaze remaining glued upon the empty container.


	33. Null Moon

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY THREE: Null Moon**_

"_It's easier said than done, I understand that." Came the voice of the being that sat at his desk in the huge castle in the Spirit world, his brown eyes shifting from one of the three beings standing before him, to the next, then, to the last, an air of seriousness about the room that couldn't be shrugged away. The tall, dark being remained silent and motionless, an air of abrupt discipline about them, as the small, pale one standing a few paces away from the tall one remained curteously silent, and the last one stood against the wall at the back of the room, an air of bitterness about them._

"_But someone more suitable for the position would be better than having some half-brained brat stand in. She'll compramise the whole assignment!" The voice of a bitter, authorative, and femanine voice echoed, and the toddler ruler behind his desk frowned fractionally._

"_It's been decided, Meia will take up her part in the assignment, there will be no discussion on that." The toddler ruler spoke, and, almost without reason, the tall, dark form cursed under her breath, turned on her heel and began to march out of the office in a kind of temper tantrum, leaving the two remaining beings standing before Koenma. The toddler ruler placed his gaze upon the pale being, a slight look of exasperation across his face. "You two will return here first thing tomorrow morning, then I will send all three of you to the assignment location." The small, pale form inclined her head forward as the one standing in the back of the room remained silent. "That is all."_

"Indeed. Easier said than done." I spoke quietly, my eyes remaining upon the ceiling above my head. I was lying flat on my back, on the couch in the loungeroom of the Spirit Detective household as I waited for the time for Koenma's portal to arrive. It was probably about six in the morning. The only light that was filtering into the room was the tiniest hints of sunlight through the misty forest. It was indeed, incredibly misty, quite grey, silent and in all other words, empty. For some strange reason, this sense of grey silence was calming to me, like time made no real difference in the world, and I could just stay lying like this for as long as I chose. It was quite chilly, dressed in denim jeans, a black jumper with musical notes on the front, and a pair of blue converse shoes, I was just waiting silently. No one else was really awake for some reason, aside from Hiei, I knew, I felt his piercing and broody gaze fall upon me about an hour ago when he walked past. My backpack remained upon the floor at my feet, holding nothing more than simple supplies and a small short-sword, though I didn't think on it at all in this place. I had bought a few little weapons, and I had at least one of them everywhere I went – I had at least learnt how to inflict a descent little cut with the little training I had been given my Touya. Well, to at least defend myself against other beings as tough as myself, which wasn't saying terribly much, I knew full well.

The sounds of birds beginning to chirp slightly signified the ending time of the mist, and I slowly closed my eyes as I saw the tiniest hints of sun rays beginning to come through the window that the couch I was lying on was against. The mist would begin to dissipate soon, much to my displeasure.

The sounds of footsteps came to my hearing after several minutes, and I opened my eyes to look at the doorway to my left as I heard the foorsteps come to a stop. My gaze fell upon a black-clad being standing in the doorway, and the stabbing feeling of a bitter gaze against the side of my face highlighted one name to the list of names in my head as I thought of who it was. They began to walk out of the house after a few moments, and I dragged myself upright as I felt that I should. A glance out of the window to my right had me understand why. I guess, it was time for the assignment now, there was a portal hovering in the front yard, and I could see the black-clad being that was Hiei stepping through the portal at that moment. I let out a breath after a few moments, and began to head towards the portal as well, grabbing my backpack as I went. I closed the front door behind me as I kept my gaze upon the portal, my gaze only flickering away from it to a little sparrow that seemed to almost fly through the portal. Though I didn't pay any real mind to it, it was probably a figment of my imagination. I took one last glance at the Spirit Detective house before I stepped through the portal, and the gush of turbullent air hit me in a sudden instance.

"_You're to draw out and assassinate a group of Demons that have been causing trouble for the Human world for the past few weeks." Koenma spoke in an authorative voice, his gaze remaining upon a stack of papers that were sitting upon the desk in front of him. His gaze fell upon the form that was of Hiei, standing at the back of the room, his crimson glare remaining upon the ground at his feet as he listened, rather begrudgingly, it was quite obvious._

"_Causing trouble, how, Koenma?" Came the voice of the dark-clad being that stood on the other side of the room, and Koenma slowly looked over to the form. The electric blue eyes that the being held were showing nothing but a military-like code of conduct, a simple question to ascertain the liabilities. _

"_Kidnapping human children to be exact, though we haven't gained any information as to why they would be kidnapping human children in the first place." Koenma spoke, his gaze shifting from the electric blue eyes that belonged to a dark skinned woman, to the pale form that was Meia, who was listening curteously. _

"_Human children?" The dark-skinned woman asked, and Meia resisted the urge to look at the woman as she shifted slightly. "I can't see what these demons would want with the most useless of creatures in the three worlds." A slight smirk crossed Hiei's face at that comment, and Koenma didn't miss it, however he didn't look away from Meia in the least. _

"_Despite your disbelief, that is the problem. And we need to take care of this before any more problems start to surface."_

"_Problems like another group of monsters attacking your precious human world?" the dark skinned woman demanded callously, and Meia slowly closed her eyes. This was beginning to become a headache. _

"_Yes, problems like that incident." Koenma replied, and Meia slowly opened her eyes to look at Koenma._

The portal lead to the familiar sight that was Koenma's office, the toddler ruler was sitting at his desk, a cup of coffee in his grip as he glared up at something fluttering around the roof of his office.

"It's exactly this reason why I don't like leaving these portals everywhere this time in the morning." Koenma cursed sleepily, and I looked up at the ceiling after a few moments, to see a flock of little birds swooping around in the air above the office. A couple of sparrows, a zebra finch, and a robbin were swooping around, chirping their alarm at suddenly appearing in a place like this, and they weren't helping their alarm in the least. I had a descent enough knowledge of local birds, enough to know that the zebra finch was probably from Northern Australia. So the other person on this job must have just come in from Australia? "Ogre! Go get a net and get rid of these pests now!"

"Yes sir, right away." George spoke immediately, and he ducked out of the office to go and fetch a net to catch the little birds. My gaze followed the birds for a few moments before I looked to the other beings that were in Koenma's office with me. I spotted Hiei, standing where he normally did here, over at the back of the room, standing against the wall. And the form that was of the third person here, was someone I had met a couple of times now, though not on good terms. The figure of dark stood closer to Koenma's desk, her piercing electric blue eyes were upon the toddler ruler, bitterly. It seemed she was still in a bad mood over yesterday morning. Though, I guessed, that it couldn't really be helped. Of the four people that were in this room a minute ago, only Koenma and George seemed to either like me, or just not mind me. Hiei and Barnette, they both seemed to either dislike me, or just plain hate me, I was close to thinking it was the latter.

"Can we get on with this, Koenma?" Barnette barked bitterly, and I saw Koenma frown fractionally as he took a sip of his coffee. It seemed like Koenma was not too happy with this situation either, not that I could really blame him. I blinked as the Robbin seemed to grow quite tired and begin to sink towards the ground – it looked like the panic with the strange change in atmosphere was making it's wings grow tired. I let out a breath as I heard Barnette begin to go on about her lack of time again, and I merely stepped forward to catch the robin as it merely dropped to the ground from it's wing's giving out on it. A young one by the looks of it. I heard it chirp it's sudden objection to being caught by something other than the floor, however I just ignored it as I cupped my hands around it and stepped back slightly to look at Koenma again.

"_If that's the case, then what's __**she **__doing here?" Barnette demanded bitterly, and Koenma raised an eyebrow as Meia just remained silent and motionless, her gaze remaining upon Koenma – looking at Barnette would only prove to be as bad as the last time – and she doubted Koenma's words would stop the woman from taking her anger out in force again._

"_Meia is here to assist with the assignment, as are you, Barnette." Koenma spoke, flicking through the pile of papers after a few moments. "You certainly don't pass for an eleven year old girl, do you?" Koenma spoke, and Barnette blinked in shock as Meia let out a breath – she had guessed as much with Koenma having her helping with the assignment. Her frailty, despite making her look incredibly weak, she knew, it made her look younger again as much as she already did._

"_You're using her as bait?" Barnette spoke – wanting clarification, clearly. Meia merely closed her eyes and began to listen half-heartedly – she really didn't want to listen to this bitter arguing anymore._

"_That would be the blunt way of putting it, yes, Meia will be the bait to bring the demons out." Koenma clarified for Barnette, and Meia felt the piercing gaze of the bitter woman hit her momentarily._

"_You've got to be kidding me!" Barnette spat, and Meia slowly opened her eyes to look up at Koenma._

"_Do you have any objections, Hiei?" Koenma asked, however there was no response from the fire apparition in mention – he didn't even look over or shift fractionally. _

"_She's a useless creature that can't even fend for herself. You expect me to babysit her while a whole hoard of demons come charging at us!? I don't think so!" Barnette nearly spat, and Koenma let out a breath after a moment._

"_It's easier said than done, I understand that."_

"_But someone more suitable for the position would be better than having some half-brained brat stand in. She'll compramise the whole assignment!" Barnette seethed, causing Koenma to frown at the woman's difficult side._

"_It's been decided, Meia will take up her part in the assignment, there will be no discussion on that." Koenma clarified, and that was met with Barnette turning on her heel and leaving the room with a glare that almost made Hiei's usual glare look like a warm and comforting smile. Koenma let out an exasperated breath as he placed his gaze upon the silent Meia._

"_You two will return here first thing tomorrow morning, then I will send all three of you to the assignment location." Meia slowly inclined her head forward as Hiei remained silent and motionless where he was standing in the room. "That is all." _

"The three of you will be following the line of the barrier between the Demon world and the Human world towards the south." Koenma spoke after a few moments, and I looked up at the toddler ruler to see him pulling out a map from the top drawer of his desk. "Since it's the seventh day of the week, they'll probably start heading through there towards the towns south of Mutsu."

"I thought you said they've only been making trouble for a few weeks." Barnette spoke sharply, and I remained silent, glancing down at the little robin in my hands as Koenma began to flatten the map over onto the desk.

"Well, we had thought it was for a few weeks, but it turns out, after a little more digging through the disappearances files, that they've been taking human children for a little over two years now."

"Then why is it such a big problem?" Barnette demanded.

"There are already hundreds of humans already taken." Koenma said seriously, then placed his gaze to the map. "The three of you will head along this line here. This is the old flow of the barrier, from about fifteen years ago. The demons seem to be following this line through the whole of Japan, then through the coast of china back to Japan again." I leant over to look at Koenma point out the line of the barrier. The map was huge, the country of Japan was about the size of an A3 page alone. The old barrier went straight through the middle of Japan in a huge circle, and followed the same line through China, I could see that well.

"So if that's where the barrier was, then where is it now?" I asked after a moment, and I felt a scathing look from Barnette hit the side of my face as Koenma looked up at me. A sparrow above his head chirped weakly from lack of energy as the remaining birds sunk closer to the floor.

"Around about here." Koenma spoke as he grabbed a quill and drew a remarkably larger circle that ran straight along the eastern and southern coasts of Japan, and straight through China and Mongolia. I blinked in shock at the change in the barriers size and location in just fifteen years.

"Stupid brat." I heard Barnette seeth, however, I knew for a fact that it was directed towards me. I didn't think or say anything to that, taking a step back after a moment. George came back into the room after a moment, a huge bird-catching net in his grip as Koenma merely rolled up the map.

"Barnette and Hiei, you're to make sure Meia is kept safe at all times, but you'll have to maintain a safe distance away from her, so the demons don't know you're there until they're drawn out." Koenma spoke, and I felt a glare come my way from Barnette. She really was making Hiei seem like a friendly person in comparison to her.

"Fine." Barnette seethed.

"Good, then the three of you can leave now." Koenma spoke, waving his hand at the back of the room, and the faint sounds of a portal appearing met my hearing. I blinked slowly as I saw Barnette begin to walk out of the room, looking over to the back of the room to see Barnette stepping through the portal. I began to head for the portal as I saw Hiei step away from the wall, and, as I was a step away from the portal, I came to a halt as Koenma called me.

"Meia." I blinked and looked over at the toddler ruler as he looked up to me, almost giving me a stern look. "Try to behave yourself."

"What?" I spoke in surprise, and I blinked as he cast me a knowing look. Behave myself? When was the last time I didn't – I blinked as I suddenly realised he was referring to my venomous take to Jin. "_Oh!_" I spoke, and I couldn't stop the sheepish grin from crossing my face as I quickly ducked through the portal, not before the almost frowing look of curiosity hit me in the back.


	34. One More Soul To The Call

**[Authors Note] **And the last chapter I'll be able to post until the beginning of February. Hope you guy's enjoy it!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR: One More Soul To The Call**_

The harsh chill of the early morning air hit me hard as the turbullent air of the portal let me through to the other side. There was less light than I would have thought for this time in the morning, it was the same grey atmosphere that I liked seeing, all around me. I could see Barnette to the right from the corner of my eye as I stepped forward several paces, and my hearing picked up the footsteps of Hiei coming through the portal after a few moments. There were many pine trees around, that was easy to see through the mist, and there was also plenty of other things like flowers and all that. For some strange reason, with the mist around, even though I liked it, it made it feel eerie in some respects, probably due to the fact that I was acting as bait to draw out some demons that were kidnapping humans. Though, I did begin to wonder if me and my blue hair was going to be a problem, it wasn't a human colour, though I had been accepted with it on the human side of things for a while now.

I glanced at Barnette as I saw movement from the corner of my eye, seeing her beginning to head off in some random direction, but I didn't move as I looked down at the robin in my grip. The creature didn't seem to budge as I rearranged my grip of it so it could fly away. It looked almost ... dead? It's eyes were closed and everything. I frowned slightly as I heard Hiei begin to walk after a few moments, however, I didn't look up as I tried to nudge the robin slightly without shaking it too much. A sudden twitter alerted me of the robin's consciousness, and I frowned even more as the bird just remained as it was. Great, I just had to catch the little critter that was comfortable with a strange person catching it out of mid air. It didn't look like it was going to grace me with the use of my hands any time soon. This certainly wasn't helping me keep the impression that I was a human child up very well. I reluctantly began to walk forwards as I felt an agitated gaze fall upon me, and I was almost certain it was Barnette.

"Starting this assignment now are we?" I asked either Hiei or Barnette, I didn't really care who answered me. However, as I had expected, I got no answer, and I had lost sight of Hiei – Only Barnette was about fifty meters ahead of me, and disappearing. I frowned, no, almost glared at the woman's back. I knew the both of them had heard me. "Great." I cursed, coming to a halt to look around. They could have at least told me which way I was supposed to be going! This was going to be a very, very long morning. Koenma said that the way I was supposed to be heading was ... south west, more south than west. So, that meant that I had to walk a compass turn right, so the sun was to my left? I couldn't be too sure. I could vaguely see the sun a little to my right, so, I turned so it was to my left, and began walking. If I ended up walking the wrong way, it wasn't my fault.

I could feel my bitter look crossing my face as the minutes ticked on, and I heard no complaint about the direction that I was heading, so I assumed I was heading in the right direction. I think, I'm already bored of this, but there wasn't really any thing I could do other than just keep walking. I couldn't even hear the footsteps of Hiei and Barnette, so by the looks of it, they were a fair way away, but how could they keep track of where I was?

---------------

Koenma sat at his desk, pacifier in his mouth as he stared out at the sea of papers that were in front of his desk, stacked in many towering piles on the floor, and he had to go through each and every piece of paper. He wasn't going to, however, he had other things he wanted to look at, many, many other things he wanted to look at before signing each and every one of those spirit passings that were waiting for confirmation. A faint twittering brought his irritation into view, and his brown eyes raised up to the top of the huge door of his office. A small little sparrow was sitting on the frame of the door, where what looked to be a nest was situated. Koenma blinked at the near-white nest for a few moments, before his gaze trailed to a pile of papers that were messier than the others. Several of the top pieces of paper were torn up, and pieces of the paper was missing.

"Ogre!" Koenma shouted suddenly, and the doors of the office opened so suddenly that the little sparrow leapt out of it's nest for a few moments out of shock. The blue ogre jogged into the room, his loincloth splattered green and red from painting in the next room, though the paint was mostly dried.

"What is it, Koenma, sir?" George asked quickly as he came to a halt in front of Koenma's desk, and he blinked as Koenma merely cast him a near-glare.

"You missed one!" Koenma complained, pointing up at the top of the door in a tempermental manner. George blinked, before his gaze followed the way that Koenma was pointing, and his gaze fell upon the sparrow.

"Koenma sir, I think you need to work on your portals."

"How dare you!" Koenma spluttered, his pacifier nearly falling out of his mouth as George merely looked back at the bitter toddler. "I'll have you know my portals are the best in the castle when my dad's not here!"

"Yes, Koenma, sir, but, the birds, and last week there was a siamese cat." Koenma's right eye twitched at that statement, however George didn't even seem to notice.

"Get rid of it! It's ruining my papers!" Koenma nearly shouted, and George flinched back momentarily, before turning and beginning to sprint out of the office. As the moments faded, Koenma's glare slowly disipated, and he was left looking down at the stack of papers in front of him. His eyes followed the flow of papers to the next pile to his right, which was the pile that he was supposed to be doing. He let out a breath as he sunk into his chair, and he slowly picked up the bundle of papers that were at the top of the pile of papers in front of him. Being at next to zero on his personal investigation was more than disappointing, it just made him want to throw away his compulsory job and just sulk in bed. But considering how important his job was, he couldn't just do that. Koenma's eyes slowly traced down the page in front of him as the sparrow went along tidying it's nest of torn assignment papers.

That incident in the Shopping district those weeks ago was plaguing his mind like a bothersome sparrow chasing after the illusive insect called truth, like the one sitting atop the door of his office, and he just couldn't force the thoughts from his mind. Not even the knowledge that he was supposed to be finding more information on all of the missing humans in connection with the assignment he had just sent Barnette, Hiei and Meia on. It was important, he needed to find out who the people were, and try and ascertain why they were being taken, but he just couldn't focus. Perhaps, deviating from the assignment at hand and looking back again at the shopping incident would help clear his mind, at least a little bit.

The door to the office opened as Koenma lifted the first page of the bundle of papers back, and he didn't even look up as the sight of George with a giant bird net came into his peripheral vision. There was no more real gain in information about what happened, all he really had to go on, was Kurama's report on the incident. There was still no more real information about what Meia could possibly be, from either Ritsuko, or any of his spirit detectives. She was still an enigma, and it didn't really help that even in situations that would have made anyone else break, and signs of their origins would surface, the most that had ever happened was glass breaking, and the frail girl collapsing from the mental strain. Something wasn't there, visibly, or it was just that obvious and noticeable that he was completely overlooking it. What was it? It goes without saying that those creatures from that attack in town before was an attempt at getting to Meia, but there was no real sign of their true intent. Was she theoretically a liability to Spirit world and the Human world? Or was she a danger to the other side of the coin? Koenma glanced up at George as he lunged to the side to try and capture the sparrow, but the little agile bird merely swooped at the ogre and flew past him between his legs.

The pages in Koenma's grip wasn't really anything that conclusive, just an analysis on the residue left from the creature that Kurama had said shared traits with a demon he referred to as a hydra-serpent, but, it wasn't anything that amazing, only curious. Pure, concentrated melted iron and charcoal, with the tiniest traces of sulphur. It just made Koenma think of a metal working plant. Koenma let out a breath of weariness, and placed the bundle of papers on the tiniest square of clear desk space to his left for later reading – he just wasn't mentally able to read the chemical compounds and analysis on residue left by a mystery creature. There wasn't really any new information on anything in the first place. A shrill chirping snapped Koenma's gaze up to the door mid way through reaching for his cold coffee, and the sight of the sparrow getting mad at George brought the tiniest of smiles to Koenma's weary face. He merely shook his head and grabbed that cup of coffee, frowning fractionally as he heard a yelp of fright from George.

"Koenma!" Came a familiar voice, and the door suddenly slammed open to reveal a pink clad Botan walking forward, her oar held over her right shoulder as she walked. A bundle of papers graced Botan's grip as Koenma set the cup back on the desk, and a weary glare of irritation crossed Koenma's face.

"What are you doing bringing me more work?" Koenma grumbled, his gaze flicking to George as he slipped and fell over mid way through dodging the tiny sparrow's swoop attack.

"But Koenma! You told me to go and grab this!" Botan said in shock, waving the bundle of papers in front of Koenma's face, which earned her a glare. "These are the last three month's worth of disappearances in the whole of Japan!"

"Yes, yes, but I told you to bring them after lunch!" Koenma complained.

"B-but--" Botan began, but she cut herself off at the look of irritation that then appeared over Koenma's face.

"Fine, just put them on top of that pile there." Koenma spoke, motioning to the pile of papers that was sitting just an inch from his right hand. The grim reaper just looked at the bundle of papers in her hand, then carefully placed them crookedly on top of the pile of papers, obviously in an attempt to keep the papers somewhat separated.

"May I ask you something, Koenma?" Botan asked after a few moments, causing Koenma to look up at her from the irritatingly crooked pile of papers to his right. "Why did you send Meia on that assignment with only Barnette and Hiei?" Koenma blinked, though didn't look away from Botan as George tripped over his own feet and slipped, managing to catch his own head in the bird net as the sparrow swooped at his face again.

"Why? You think she's going to 'compromise the assignment'?" Koenma spoke, however he narrowed his eyes as Botan looked away in an uncomfortable manner. "She's the better person for the position. She also still smells like a human, according to Barnette, so it's an advantage sending her than someone else."

"But ..." Botan began, looking back at Koenma after a moment. "Sending _just _Barnette and Hiei? Is that wise?"

"Sending Yusuke would draw too much attention, and it's out of the question to throw Kuwabara in." Koenma spoke, and Botan blinked momentarily at that statement.

"You're right." Botan spoked, her usual buoyant persona beginning to creep back into her again. "Sending Kuwabara in would be like sending an elephant in to do a mouse's job!" Koenma blinked at the sudden turn around the grim reapers comments had taken. "You're absolutely right!" Botan then turned to begin to leave. "I'm going out for lunch!"

"Ooh, I need a refill!" Koenma piped up, grabbing his half empty, cold cup of coffee as Botan looked back at him.

"A please would be nice!" Botan taunted, which earned an incredulous look from Koenma.

"Hey! I'm your boss! Stop treating me like a _baby_!" Koenma exclaimed, however all he got was a giggle as the pink-clad reaper left the office with a quick step. He glared at the door as he set his cup down on the desk again. However, his momentary bitterness towards the grim reaper was replaced effectively with shock as the little sparrow landed on the pile of papers Botan had just added to.

"No you don't!" George almost yelled, and as the little sparrow flew out of the way of the falling net in a flurry of chirps, papers flew in it's departure, and the bird net instead fell on Koenma and cold coffee. The blue ogre glared at the retreating sparrow, until he felt a deadly gaze that rivaled Hiei's glare of loathing, and he suddenly turned a few shades paler than his usual deep blue.

"Ogre." Spoke Koenma, in a quiet, and strangely frightening voice, causing George to immediately lift the net off of the toddler ruler.

"K-Koenma sir, I-I-I--" George stammered, holding the net behind his back and beginning to edge away from his boss.

"GO AND GET A TOWEL BEFORE I THROW YOU INTO LIMBO!" Koenma shouted, and his outburst of anger was met with the immediate act of fleeing from George. The doors of Koenma's office slammed shut with a deafening crash, leaving the livid toddler looking down at the fallen, and coffee-stained papers with venom. "I _wish _I could throw people into limbo for no reason!" He seethed, taking to trying to wipe the coffee from the papers with his bare hands as he waited for the frightened ogre with the towel. The sparrow remained silent and motionless, back in it's position on top of the door in it's nest, almost as frightened of the previously entertaining toddler as George. Strange wrinkles formed in the papers along with the breaking down of the papers from the coffee the more Koenma wiped at them, and eventually, a minute later, Koenma just gave up on trying to mop up the coffee without the towel. Beginning to carefully peel the pages apart, he began to examine the papers to ascertain how much information had been lost, only, once he had found the source of the ridging wrinkles in the pages above, his whole form suddenly froze as he found himself staring at many little photographs, like mug-shots on a wanted portfolio in a police station.

"What the --" Koenma spoke, staring down at the papers like he was staring at a frightening ghost that was supposed to be long gone. Many faces of girls were staring up at him, dated a week apart each, until the disappearances a little past the middle of july. They weren't children, not anymore – the disappearances were all small, petite young women that looked like they could pass for fourteen year olds. "Oh no." Koenma spoke, his wide-eyed gaze remaining upon the photographs in front of him.


	35. Cloak And Dagger

**[Authors Note]** Alright guys, this one is a long one, and I managed to scrounge up the tiniest amounts of internet access while dad's at work, so it's all good, I just had to post more after that last one I managed to get up a little over a week ago. Hope you all like it, it's a larger chapter than normal cause I couldn't see a good place to split it in half, so you've got six pages worth of writing in the one chapter. Enjoy guys, and don't be at all hesitant in telling me what you think =) Thanks guys. Oh, and if anyone out there is reading that posted the huge review on what a mary-sue is, thanks for the in-depth re-enlightenment, but I don't see how it's related to Meia? Message me?

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE: Cloak And Dagger**_

"Still no sign of any demons." I complained under my breath as I fought back the urge to just come to a dead halt and just rest my feet. Walking all day, I had expected that, but I didn't expect to not be allowed any rest along the way. The sun had shifted back onto the right side of my gaze, and it was starting to get dark now. Hours spent walking? An understatement, it was more like _half a day! _I looked down at my watch after a few moments, and I almost swore – talk about late, it was a little past five in the evening! I wouldn't care so much if so much as a single sign of a demon coming out of the woodwork surfaced, but no! It was turning out to be more of a bore than anything else. The little robin, an irritation stuck to me permanently it seemed, was sitting atop my head, _still! _Not even the rain a few hours ago was enough to deter it from sitting atop my head and staying like it had. It really looked like I was stuck with a pet that seemed to like me the longer it's claws remained wrapped around locks of my already irritatingly long hair.

I felt cold, tired, and a little bit ill. Walking through an hour long shower of rain and hail was enough to take all energy from anyone, at least, anyone that was in any way like a human, for example, me. I may not be human, but damn I still felt the same. I knew for a fact that, despite the fact that I couldn't pick up any sign of either Hiei or Barnette within a hundred meters of me, I knew for a fact that they were around. The back of my head still hurt from when I tried to rest an hour ago, as I was also sure the robin's feet were still hurting from it too. That woman really had a way of making sure I knew she hated my guts. I'd rather be locked in the same room as Motoko for a month than be dragged around by Barnette like this. Couldn't there be an easier way of doing this? I was already fed up with this, and ready to throw in the towel. I closed my eyes as took in a breath, and as I continued forward, the sounds of my own footsteps beginning to echo throughout the area. My eyes fell upon the horizon ahead of me as I walked, and the tiniest twittering from the robin atop my head kept me aware of it's existence. It was getting dark alright, I could see that the sun was already setting. My gaze followed the horizon as I walked, with only my own thoughts to amuse me for all this time, I was all thought out.

As the minutes passed, my somewhat strange eyesight picked up on a structure somewhere up on the hill in front of me, probably another five minutes walk. There was the tiniest hints of something standing outside of the structure, so I merely continued walking. I was so damn tired of walking that I didn't really care if there were demons there, or it was just an empty building, the sooner those damn demons came out of the woodwork, the sooner I could disappear back to the house and collapse for a good few days.

I came within meters of the building minutes later, and I continued walking onwards as I examined the building. It didn't look like a traditional japanese building, or a modern one for that matter – it looked ... European, like one of those old decorative churches in the countryside. Though as I went to continue onwards along this damn little trek that I was signed up on, towards the little town that I could now see ahead of me, I suddenly felt pain in the back of my head as my plaited hair was suddenly grabbed and I was dragged backwards – _Again_!

"We're stopping here for a little while." Came the grating voice that I knew for a fact belonged to Barnette, and I winced again as I was tugged backwards a few paces more.

"Okay! Okay! Let me go!" I spoke quickly, but all I got was pain as she dragged me right back to her by the hair.

"Since I have to babysit you, you're not going anywhere!" I heard Barnette seethe, her voice right by my ear. "Get inside." She spoke, and not only was I met with the release of my hair, but I was immediately met with a sharp prod in the square of the back and sent stumbling towards the open door of the strange building. The pain wasn't as intense as the pain in the back of my head, and merely walked ahead a bit faster than Barnette was – any excuse for her to cause me more pain like that, and she would take it, I was more than certain. I had the feeling she had been itching to do more than that for the few weeks since we had briefly met. I stepped through the door of the church slowly, looking around as I began to notice something about this church.

I had seen once or twice in pictures, these strange churches having a wall of mirrors at the front, covered partially by huge drapes like curtains, but I hadn't seen any of these things in the smaller churches. But however, as I was looking around, and carefully walking so I wouldn't trip over anything, all I was seeing at the alter, were mirrors. The whole walling around the alter was like a semi circle bent around like a circular room, and the walls were all mirror. There were no real drapes, no curtains, only shreds of old curtains that looked like they had been burnt away many years ago. Scorch marks lined the area, and even the mirrors, however there weren't too many more than that. The floor was made of a kind of wood that had an ocean-like scent to it, and I almost had to bite my lip to stop the slight cough from the dust from escaping me. I couldn't really see Hiei anywhere, and I could hear Barnette walking into the church behind me, so I decided, to go sit myself near the mirrors. The other side of the church was all torn up and ragged, and there wasn't really anywhere to sit.

I sat down carefully, against the large mirror with the strangely burnt remains of the curtains at my back, and I rest my head against the glass. The cool surface of the glass felt warm in comparison to my frozen body, not that it meant too much to me, and I remained silent as I heard Barnette begin to look around the church. It was dark, as I knew, the clouds didn't block out too much of the night sky, and I slowly looked to the figure that was resting against the glass like me. Again, she looked paler than normal, but for some reason, I knew that it wasn't me. But I wasn't that phased by it, I was just too tired to think about it, and my body was sore in comparison. I could feel the pain of the bruises running up my legs, and I was more than aware of their existence. I wasn't bothered by that either. The tiniest hints of firelight came to my sights after a few moments, however I didn't even look over at the glow of warmth to my left, my gaze remaining against the grey colours that were the charred wood floor, and the scorched mirrors. I could smell something strange, but it was mainly a metalic taste in the back of my throat, like I had been around melting iron for too long, and the evaporated fumes had attacked my senses, but for some strange reason, that scent and taste had been with me for a few weeks now. It wasn't that strange for me to be smelling it. I hated it, it was the most unpleasant of things around, but there wasn't really anything that I could do about it. It was stronger today, for some reason, but I was more inclined to believe that I was just that tired that I couldn't block most of it from my notice anymore.

I felt eyes upon me as I remained curled slightly against the mirror, the little robin with me releasing the locks of my hair after a few moments and settling itself upon my shoulder. I really was stuck with it now, by the looks of it. I slowly closed my eyes as the need for sleep began to overcome me, and I really didn't care if Barnette decided to torture me for falling asleep, I was just that sore and tired that any form of rest, despite the consequences, was needed. I was even too tired to be wondering why we were resting in an old, abandoned church, when it was smarter to rest in the middle of the town that was a few kilometers away.

"No sleeping!" Came the barking voice of Barnette, and I snapped my eyes open instantly. Oh why did one of the only two beings that were with me have to be devil incarnate? I just wanted to kill her, or rather torture her until she couldn't torture _me _any longer. No, better yet, I'd get quick enough to so much as catch the ankle of that cursed wind master and torture _him _half to death. He was on my hit list, a small one, I knew, it only had four names on it, but, he was at the top of the list. I could feel the pain of my limbs as I just curled into more of a ball and rest my chin on top of my knees, my mind beginning to feebly wander onto other things in an attempt to keep myself awake so the monster sitting over by the fire had no damn excuse to cause me any more agony, though I knew she didn't require one to cause me grief. That melting iron scent was still in the air, and it was beginning to make my head feel heavier and stuffier, and it was becoming hard to think. I resorted to closing my eyes as I tried to will the heavy feeling in my head to leave me. The faint tone of a beeping pager came to my hearing, but really it meant nothing to me, I just wanted to sleep, collapse, anything, I didn't care just as long as I didn't have to open my eyes for a few hours.

"What is it?!" Barked the agitated voice of Barnette, causing me to go back to resting the side of my head against the wall of mirrors carefully – someone else for her to get angry at was a god-send for me. I needed any amount of sleep I could get. "Excuse me?!" Barnette almost shrieked, but not loud enough for me to stir from my near-sleeping state. Five minutes! Give me five minutes! "What do you mean, abandon the assignment?! They've been following us over the countryside for the past three--" The sound of trudging feet met my hearing, and only then did I snap my eyes open again – I could hear where Barnette was, and I had heard, and seen the tiniest hints of Hiei over in Barnette's direction, but the footsteps were on the other side of the wall of mirrors, and, there were many of them.

"Onna, get up." Came the snap of Hiei's voice, loud, like he had spoken from right next to me, and I blinked in sudden shock. Though as I heard the footsteps on the other side of the mirror wall become more uncoordinated and clumsy, I decided, I should probably listen. I dragged myself to my feet as quickly as I could, and I looked over at where Barnette and Hiei were, to see them both standing more into the middle of the room.

"Great, it looks like they've gotten us surrounded." Came Barnette's voice, but for some reason, she sounded really bored.

"Abandon the assignment! _Now!" _Came the yelling voice of Koenma, and I blinked in shock as I thought I heard hint's of panic in his voice.

"I'm not leaving until I've killed someone for having to put up with that pathetic excuse for an apparition girl!" I heard Barnette say as I came to a halt a few meters away from the two demons, however a bit closer to Hiei than Barnette – there was no way I was getting closer than three meters of Barnette without a sure way to stop her from causing me any harm.

"That's an _order_, Barnette! I'm _ordering_ you to _abandon the assignment_!" Came Koenma's shouting voice, and I looked at Barnette hesitantly as she just seemed to smirk.

"And I'm not leaving until I've murdered something." I could hear more footsteps coming closer, and they all seemed to be rather uncoordinated, like the beings were either drunk, or had been knocked in the head and couldn't walk that well until their balance kicked back in. That metal scent seemed to be getting stronger and stronger – I couldn't smell anything else, and I was beginning to feel nausea kicking in fast. It was like, these beings were soaked in melting iron, but there was no real way of that being real. "Catcha later Koenma, we've got some road-kill to deal with." Barnette spoke, and I heard the distinctive beep of some sort of communications device being turned off. I edged a little further away from Barnette as she snapped her hate-filled gaze to me, and I could feel the blazing of her wish to absolutely murder me hitting me. What had Koenma gotten me into?

"How many are there?" I managed to ask quietly as the footsteps turned into hundreds, and I felt Barnette take her gaze from me after a moment. The footsteps just kept on coming closer and closer, the longer we remained where we were.

"Just stay out of my way." She seethed, and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from swearing. She had to take every chance she got to throw something snide at me. I tried to shake the heavy feeling from my head quickly, but it just wouldn't budge, and my hearing just barely picked up the sounds of something stepping into the church with the same lack of coordination as all the other footsteps. My eyes shifted to the entrace carefully, where I could see Barnette approaching the form that looked a little too much like a marionette for my liking – the form was an appearing human, but for some reason he seemed to hang down to the ground like invisible wires were holding him up by the shoulders, and the spine. I couldn't see any weapon that Barnette had, and yet, for some strange reason, she seemed more dangerous then than when she was about to murder me for even noticing that she existed before.

"What brings you here?" Came Barnette's voice, a harsh snap to her voice as the figure just remained motionless as more of the other beings that looked like other humans began to stumble into the church. "Are you here for that pathetic brat over there?" There was no real response from the figure as it stumbled forward slightly, and I could see Barnette's eye twitch as the being straightened up to look at the woman in the eye. Piercing blood red eyes flicked from Barnette, to Hiei, then to me, and I felt myself step back instantly as I felt something like a cold wave of pain sweep over my whole body in the instance that the red eyes fell upon me.

A high-pitched shriek suddenly rang through the area, and as I covered my ears with my hands to try and drown it out of my hearing, a sudden force hit me in the centre of the chest. Again this week, I could feel that I had become airborne, and I managed to open my eyes to see what had hit me before I crashed into the wall of mirrors on the other side of the church – a long massive amount of black, like a giant claw had hit me, and those red eyes were still staring straight into mine. The shattering of glass met all my senses as I hit the wall, and as I collapsed onto the floor, I could feel both lines of cold fluids and shards of glass falling down onto my limbs and onto the floor. Another blood curdling shriek echoed throughout the area, and I managed to open my eyes in time to see Barnette straightening up, standing further away than the figure with the red eyes, and the figure, wasn't a figure anymore, but rather, a mass of black fluids falling to the floor. Something suddenly grabbed me by the elbow of my right arm, and I winced as I was suddenly dragged to my feet with alarming speed and force. I stumbled slightly as I felt the grip around my elbow release sharply, and I saw the black clad Hiei stepping back towards the mass of creatures that seemed to be pouring in through the door, with a sharp-looking katana drawn.

"This isn't even worth the time." Came Barnette's bitter voice, and I leant back against the wall shakily as I tried to regain both my balance, and my ability to think coherrently. "Seriously, I don't get why Koenma was so insistent that we leave."

"Netami..." Came a hissing right at my ear, and, as I felt my body suddenly become limp, all of the beings that were pouring into the church, suddenly exploded into many litres of the same black fluid that the first turned into, and a loud series of splashes echoed throughout the area.

"What the heck is going on?!" Barnette exclaimed, and as I heard the tiniest hints of movement beneath the floor, I bit my lip as I closed my eyes.

"We're coming for you!" Came that hissing, and then, I felt more pain shoot through my body as the floor in the centre of the church suddenly crumbled. Long, tentacles of black shot out of the floor of the church quickly as I stared, and I could see more and more of them breaking through the wood floor. I didn't even get half the chance to form a coherent thought as a tentacle of black sludge suddenly came swinging towards me, when I felt something suddenly grab me by the left wrist and drag me out of the way in time. The release of my wrist again came a second later, and as I saw another tentacle come flying towards me, the end of it suddenly came clean from it's base, and went hurdling through the window to the right. My eyes couldn't follow any real movements, only the finish of movements, and all I saw for a split second before I was suddenly pushed out of the way of another attacking tentacle of sludge, was a black sludge-stained katana and Hiei glaring at me – to move?

"This's better than I thought!" Came Barnette's booming voice, and I only just managed to duck as another tentacle came hurdling towards me. More glass shattered as the tentacles thrashed around, missing their targets and destroying more of the abandoned church in it's wake.

"Give us the girl! NOW!" Shrieked a horrendously loud voice as more tentacles fell from the body, and as I slipped over a fallen tentacle, another crashed straight through the mirror where my head was a split second beforehand. I couldn't see straight anymore, my eyes were beginning to blur out on me, and all of my energy continued to leave me just as fast as the blood running down my back and legs was. I managed to catch myself before I fell to the floor, and I just barely stepped back in time to miss another tentacle from collecting me.

"MEIA!" Came the shouting of a familiar voice over towards my right, and I slowed to look over out of habit, to see the tiniest hints of someone not clad in black. I couldn't see more than blurs of green beginning to overcome the blurs of black that were the tentacles, and as I stumbled slightly through a step, sudden pain hit me again as a tentacle managed to connect with my stomach, sending me crashing backwards into the wall of the church. The tiniest hints of cracking glass met my spent hearing, and as I managed to open my eyes, all I could see was many tentacles of black hurdling towards me as the tiniest hints of white stretched out in front of me from the wall behind me, and dragged me backwards through the mirror at my back.


	36. The Looking Glass Of Despair

**[Authors Note] **Let's just say, I'm really sorry for the lack of writing? I'm posting this one on the college computers at the moment! I hope they don't decide to block , or I'm screwed, lol! Hope this one is a good chapter, I'm writing it how it flows. The next chapter is mostly written! Anyways, enjoy~!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh - Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY SIX: The Looking Glass Of Despair**_

The wind howled relentlessly as the beings trudged through the rain, their gazes upon the wreckage of the old church that was along the outskirts of the small town many kilometers south of Mutsu. There were no children, and no undesirables, only people clad in black and gold scanning the wreckage in the hope of finding something. The sounds of rain was all that could be heard through the howling wind, and all that could be seen was the hints of what was in front of the beings as they searched. Glass was scattered over the grounds of the church, barely any real rubble asside from the supports of the church. The glass seemed to shine with the light of the sun that wasn't even there, the clouds blocked the early morning sun effectively in that reguard.

One of the many beings straightened up slightly at the approach of someone not clad in black and gold, the sight of a being that was of higher ranks than themselves drawing their immediate attention from their job. The approaching being was one clad in blue and red, standing at a taller stature than what everyone was really used to, and brown eyes stared out over the expanse, no umbrella to block the pouring rain, and no one escorting him through the lands.

"K-Koenma sir, what're you doing here?" The being spoke, pulling back a heavily sewen hood to reveal magenta eyes set in a pallid face. Long, blonde hair hung down her face and shoulders as she brushed her overly long fringe from her face. She watched the approaching toddler ruler with apprehensive eyes, which glanced to either side of her lord in search for the non-existent bodyguards. "W-We haven't completed the securing of the--"

"I know." Koenma spoke quietly, his eyes falling upon the woman in a solemn manner. "It's better that I get a look at the scene now, before my father sends his people in to purify the area."

"Purify--" The woman began quickly, but she fell silent as Koenma held his hand up to silence her. "I see."

"In any case, is there any more news? Any more information about what happened with Meia?" Koenma asked, his gaze shifting to the woman in front of him momentarily – she was about a foot shorter than he was in his teenager form, which wasn't that surprising to him. He saw her nod slightly, and he saw her turn on her heel and begin to lead the way towards the remains of the church. The many other black and gold clad beings kept with what they were doing, their attention, however was upon the toddler ruler that was within the area without any notice, and any body guards. The woman stepped through the little jungle of wires and leaves without trouble, leading the way towards where the wall of mirrors was located before anything had happened, many shards of glass were in large pieces, but the ground, despite the rain, looked like glitter against the soaked ground. One large piece of the mirror remained intact however, leant against the remaining bricks of the wall.

"There's no real sign of the girl that the beings of black were after, nor is there really any real sign that she's even alive." The woman spoke, coming to a halt a few meters in front of the mirror, and she turned slightly to look at Koenma, who had come to a stop just next to her, and was looking at the large sheet of mirror. "There isn't even any real sign that the beings of black were even here, unlike the samples we had recovered from the other three incidents, there was no iron residue, and there was no engulfing in life-force that came up on the scanners like before." Koenma cast a somewhat scathing look to the woman standing next to him. "However..."

"However what?" Koenma asked, rather impatiently, which earnt an apologetic look from the woman.

"There's signs, that there are existences within the mirrors that fall upon a reverse time-plain to the world that we are in." Koenma narrowed his gaze upon the woman as she lifted a hand and tugged at the pointed tip to her elfish ear lightly. "My analysis on the mirror shows that there's more than enough energy to prove another time-plain, however, there aren't really any real signs of anything more than mirror energy that you find in reflections cast in pure, saturated energy, much like the very few mirrors that haven't been destroyed in the Makai."

"So you're telling me that you think there's another world inside there, but you don't have any proof of that." Koenma summarised, and the woman inclined her head forward in an answer of agreement.

"It's impossible to test the factors that exist in another whole dimention without distorting the barrier between the two, and, in all likelihood, if the girl is within the mirrors, we'd risk tangling her up within a distortion of time and space, much like a black hole in the middle of space." The woman spoke, releasing the tip of her ear as she looked back at Koenma. "I'd have to take a proper look at the mirror before I risk anything, and I'm not that experienced with the barriers between dimensions."

"Based on a theoretical manner." Koenma commented, and the woman nodded fractionally. "Great. Take whatever you need from here and take it back to the Laboratories, then report back to me by midday the latest."

"Yes, Koenma sir." The woman spoke, bowing forward slightly before bringing her hood back over her head and beginning to move back to where she had been working before. Koenma's gaze trailed back to the strange mirror after a few moments, his attention on his train of thought as he stared into the misty depths of the glass substance. There was no real point in looking around anymore, he had already done a lap of the whole area beforehand. The reflections in the mirror were hazy, distorted, like the glass was covered in a layer of condensation, however, as Koenma carefully ran a hand over the surface to try and clear it up, his gaze narrowed at the lack of change in the clarity of reflections. His hand wasn't shocked with the ice-cold temperature that was overcoming the rest of the area, in fact, the glass was warmer than his hands were. He just didn't know what was going on anymore, and who to place trust in. It was becoming far too difficult to trust his own judgement these days too.

"Lord Koenma." Came a gruff, abrupt voice from behind, causing Koenma to snap back to complete awareness. His gaze traced the mirror before turning around cautiously. His gaze fell upon the sight of a group of ten beings, wearing the colouration of black and red clothing, like the people clad in black and gold, however, they were heavily armed with many weapons. Standing with the same stature of soldiers, the many beings remained silent and motionless, asside from the one being that was standing just a little away from Koenma, his hands held behind his back in a form of military-like order. Clearly, this one, with the dark red hair and the cold grey eyes was the one that had spoken. A great many scars lined the being's neck and face, though Koenma knew better than to wonder where the being could have gotten them from.

"What is it?" Koenma questioned, his gaze flicking from face to face before he placed his gaze back to the being directly in front of him.

"By the order of King Enma, we will have to escort all personel from the vicinity of the debris now." The being spoke, and Koenma glanced at the other soldier-like beings from the one in charge.

"For the purification, I'd assume." Koenma spoke, and his statement was met with the incline of the soldier-in-charge's head. "Fine, I'll need two of your men to bring this mirror back to spirit world for testing."

"We're not under orders to provide any help in this situation." The soldier spoke, causing Koenma to blink in shock.

"You're what?"

"We've been given orders by King Enma to merely purify the area, and nothing more." The soldier spoke, straightening up slightly as Koenma stared him down. "All objects within the vicinity of the debris will be destroyed, so there are no more incidents of the like occuring in the future."

"But one of my spirit detective's lives are at stake here!" Koenma exclaimed, his pacifier nearly falling out of his mouth at his sudden outburst.

"The unclassified being, Meia Arisawa, is to be treated as a casualty in service." The soldier spoke, and he began to pull an envelope out of the front pocket of his vest. "All efforts to rescue the said being are to be abandoned, and therefore, no investigation, or attempts in recovering her body, will be authorised, as ordered by King Enma himself." The soldier then handed the piece of paper to Koenma, before standing back in his straight-backed stance.

"There has got to be some mistake." Koenma spoke, hesitantly opening the envelope.

"No mistake, Lord Koenma, we serve King Enma directly." The soldier replied, and, he tilted his head to the right slightly. "Yuta, Reiko, escort Lord Koenma back to Spirit World, the rest of you, begin the purification." Two of the beings behind the one in charge immediately stepped forward to begin escorting Koenma away, while the others began to disperse. Koenma watched as one of the soldiers went straight for the mirror, and threw the sheath of their sword through the mirror, shattering it into many small pieces.

"Lord Koenma, please come with us." Spoke one of the two beings, and Koenma looked at the first immediately.

"The use of force has been authorised, Lord Koenma." Spoke the soldier-in-charge, and Koenma grit his teeth together as he looked at the said being.

"My father seems quite intent of sweeping all of this under the carpet." Koenma spoke, however, no reply met his statement, asside from the two beings taking grip of Koenma's forearms and beginning to lead him towards the portal that the black and gold clad beings had been escorted through. "I can walk myself." Koenma commented bitterly, forcing his arms out of the grips of the two beings with him, and, begrudgingly, he began to head towards the portal in silence. The rushing air of the standard portal met Koenma, and, he found himself standing just outside of his office in the castle.

"It's only been two hours. Why is he getting himself involved in this?" Koenma wondered out loud, his gaze falling upon the door as he began to step over to walk inside. "Not even when Yusuke's demon side was awakened, did he act this fast." The doors of the office swung open with no real effort, and Koenma's gaze was directed to the desk that was situated in the far end of the room. Something felt, off, for some reason, Koenma didn't understand what, but, it felt very, off, very strange. He waved his hand, and the large doors closed with a loud thud, and, the sounds of the doors locking met Koenma's hearing.

"Casualty-in-service. What a load of rot." Koenma seethed, his bad temper beginning to rise as he allowed himself to turn back into his toddler form. "He'd have executed her with his own sword if he had half the chance." Koenma shook his head as he began to head towards the desk. It seemed far too convenient for this all to mesh. King Enma wanted to get rid of Meia, more than he seemed to want to get rid of Yusuke before. It was like Enma was waiting all this time for the perfect opportunity to just write the girl off, wipe his hands clean of her existence. It wouldn't have surprised Koenma if he had first set the condition of Meia acting as bait for any assignment, in the hope that she would be taken out, just like this. Just dangling the girl in front of a group of demons spelt out ill. Koenma let out a weary breath as he reached his chair, and sat down, his gaze falling upon the ceiling above his head. There really wasn't anything he could do. He didn't doubt the soldiers sincerety about any investigation or rescue attempts being forbidden, it was the most likely thing King Enma would have done given the circumstances. So that meant that he had to wipe his hands clean of Meia too, or at least, just appear to have done so. This was just reaking foul-play, the longer things went. But King Enma wouldn't do that, Koenma was at least certain of that.

"The only thing I've got left, is to interrogate the suspect." Koenma spoke, his gaze shifting to the drawer where he had been keeping all of the papers in connection with Meia. The suspect, was a chance that had just fallen into his lap, or rather, had been noticed and beaten within an inch of life by one of his spirit detectives. For all the hot-headedness that was his spirit detective leader, it was that same hot-headedness and argumentative streak that had landed Koenma with someone to interrogate over Meia's disappearance. In this situation, Koenma decided to overlook Yusuke's outburst. Koenma let out another breath as he reached down to the handle of the drawer, his mind beginning to unravel itself out of that stress-made tangle of wires as he then pulled the drawer open.

What met the toddler rulers gaze was not the sight of something that he was previously unaware of, but rather, the drawer of Meia's papers, was completely empty.


	37. Diamond Emptiness

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN: Diamond Emptiness**_

Grey, that was the colouration as the wind swept through the landscape slowly, deafly. No sounds could be heard, and no real life could be seen. The grey, a darkened form of white snow was the only thing that the eye could see – not even the division between land and sky could be seen. Tiny flakes of white, not quite snow, and not quite rain, fell to the ground just as silently. The chill in the air was almost a deathly ice, the land was covered in huge ice-glaciers, so pure and clean that they eye could not distinguish the glaciers from snow until they were right in front of them. Without any real sign of light or dark, just the twilight between the two, the lands seemed a grey wasteland.

Within the depths of the largest crystal-clear ice glaciers, the snow didn't seem to cling to the frozen substance, unlike the other glaciers. Much like a polished crystal, the little light in the area caught within the shards of ice, and reflected throughout the lands in patterns. Down below the glaciers, a small cavern was visible, an expanse of land that wasn't covered in ice, or filled with snow from the constant storms. The floors of the cavern were submerged in an inch-deep layer of running water, and the waters flowed down towards the depths of the caverns. The cavern had but one sign of habitation – the cavern walls were not the rough, worn away texture of time and movement, however, carved out neat, and clean. Despite being made of ice, the walls held the texture of bricks in a citadel, a quaint feel despite the emptiness about the lands.

"Has the child awoken yet?" Came a quiet, withdrawn voice from the depths of the caverns. The sounds of footsteps against the icy floors of the inner caverns could be heard, signifying two beings residing deep within the darkened caverns. The voice held the distinct sound of a woman, in her mid fourties. An air of indifference was about the voice.

"She hasn't, I'm afraid." Came a different, more emotional voice. The voice sounded to belong to a young girl, early twenties at most. The sound of reluctant admittance was about the voice, however, the voice sounded innocent in comparison to the first.

"The old fool should have kept his two cents out of the matter." The first voice spoke, and, the tiniest hints of light came into sudden view. A kind of blue light could be seen deeper within the caverns, revealing two figures. One, a form that clearly belonged to the first voice standing next to a little table situated in the centre of a large room. Long, silver hair hung down to the floor in many plaits, hanging lower down than the sleek dress she was wearing. Grey eyes stared over at the other figure without emotion, a tallish woman appearing in her late fourties. The dress she was wearing was of a teal colour, flowing down to her feet in layers of thin material. She had a thin, almost bony form, which showed up the age in her face. The other form, was of a much younger woman. A small, petite form sat down on the floor before the woman. Long, blonde hair cascaded down the forms back over the top of a short, almost elfish outfit. Combined with bells, ribbons and lace, the outfit resembled something of an incredibly foreign look, and in tribute to the somewhat bizzare outfit, the shoes that the being was wearing, resembled that of a kind of boot, bells lining the top of the boots, which were of the same colour as the outfit – a kind of cerulean blue with white. Brightly coloured, jade eyes stared up at the woman from a slightly rounded, and young face, looking to be more than young enough to be the daughter of the woman, though, there was no resembelance between the two.

"You can't blame the old man, really. There wasn't much of a choice in the matter." The young girl spoke, looking down at her hands slowly as she ran her fingertips over her right arm. Bandages were bound around the girl's arms, thick and heavy bandages, which showed that the girl had sustained a fair amount of damage recently. Tugging at the edges of the bandages carefully, it gave the impression of an irritation that she was unnable to push out of her mind.

"Still finding it difficult to use your arms, are you, Monique?" The woman asked, a kind of sneer in her voice as she looked down upon the girl, and the sneer didn't go unnoticed as the girl sprung to her feet with more energy than a gymnist.

"No, they just sting a little." The girl called Monique stated, and she stuck her tongue out at the woman in a childish manner as she then began to walk away.

"Then don't stick your arms in the equivalent to a fire next time." the woman spoke briskly, and, she then turned on her heel and began to make her way in the opposite direction.

Corridor of ice after corridor of ice was all that could be seen the deeper into the caverns that anyone went, and the young woman called Monique stepped with a kind of energy in her limbs. Her long blonde hair flowed behind her as she moved, and her jade eyes flicked from sculpture to sculpture with a kind of keen interest – it was possible the girl was almost always interested in the little things in the almost empty world. The sounds of a slight crystal chiming could be heard the deeper into the caverns one went, and the girl seemed to walk at a pace where her footsteps were in time with the musical chiming. A large, almost decorative door was at the end of the corridor, and Monique came to a halt in front of the door, a few meters away from the ice-like structure.

"I'm sorry, but I've gotta go check on the girl!" Monique called out loudly, and, there was no real audiable response to her statement. A tiny, half smile crept onto Monique's lips, and, she merely stepped towards the huge door. "Thank you~!" She sung, and, as she walked into the door, there was no force of physical matter that repelled her like a normal door would, and, she instead walked straight through it like it was only a wall of fireflies.

Lines of ice ran throughout the whole room like the thin strands of spiders webs, sending strange arrays of filtered sunlight throughout the room like decorative crystals. The room Monique had entered was huge, a kind of large hall that resembled something of an arctic palace. Water slowly streamed down the walls, just as silently as the world above, and the filtered light reflected off of the walls, almost seeming to intensify the strength of the pure light effectively. The being stepped towards the far side of the room, her long blonde hair trailing out behind her as she moved, and her jade eyes remained upon a kind of formation in the icy walls in front of her. The large cavern was far colder than the other rooms, and, as Monique reached the edge of the able flooring in the cavern, she placed her eyes, not on the strangely formed ice cluster at her height, but rather, an overlooked oddity within the frozen substance.

A silhouette was visible through the ice if one looked hard enough, somewhat resembling a near-human appearing being. An averagely sized human, though the tiniest hints of pointed ears contradicted that. The being was encased in a thick layer of ice, and a great many chains bound the being without mercy – hands bound and arms tied tightly at their sides, a man by the looks of it. Old, neat robes was what the figure wore, a kind of cross between a japanese kimono and a chinese shirt, the being looked to be not a pheasant, but rather, a well respected being, putting asside the strange bindings of course. Long, silvery hair hung in the ice like a kind of mist, and, yellow, almost feline-like eyes stared straight out at Monique. It was almost impossible for the being to be alive, let alone conscious, though as Monique watched the being, a tiny smile crossed her face as she saw those topaz eyes shift ever so fractionally.

"The girl, I've got to go check on her!" Monique spoke, as if answering a question that she had just been asked of by the being. The smile across her face increased slightly, and she placed her weight on her right foot without hesitation. "Well, I don't know. Those injuries looked pretty bad." Monique blinked after several moments, and, as she lost the slight smile, she rubbed the corner of her right eye carefully with an index finger. "Ahlora? Still as stubborn as always." It was evident enough that there was another voice in the room, though there was no 'audiable' voice to be heard, almost implying a kind of telepathy. "In any case, I'd better go and check on the girl, before she wakes up." Monique spoke, and, her eyes shifted from the figure in the ice, to a kind of walling to the far right. "Later, old man!" She sung, and, without another glance, she began to leave the room. The walling that Monique headed to, she stepped through like the kind of door beforehand, and she ended up standing on the other side, just like with the previous door. The tiniest flakes of ice floated through the air in front of her, and as she began to continue down the walkway that began to descend downwards towards the depths of the frozen caverns, she began to hum a tune under her breath. The corridors began to become darker, and darker, less being illuminated, until all that could be seen, was the tiniest hints of light reflecting off of the ice from a gem that Monique held in her hand.

Stepping through another wall as she had before, the tiniest hints of another room was visible to the eye. As Monique stepped over towards the right, the gem she held in her hand illuminated the tiniest hints of objects within this room. The light reflected oddly, in a kind of pattern against the ceiling, and, Monique merely placed the gem on a little alter to the right of where she was stadning. Faint lines of light filtered over to the other side of the room, where a large mass of ice was located. The walls were strangely reflective, much like a mirror, and, the light reflected throughout the room slowly, and it slowly began to light up more and more, like the icy altar was giving it energy. Tilting her head to the right slightly, Monique carefully stepped towards the large mass of frozen water, where she crouched down to look deep within the crystal-clear substance.

Though slightly distorted, the sight of a figure within the depths of the ice was slowly becoming visible, and, Monique wrapped her bandaged arms around her knees carefully. Monique carefully wiped a hand against the seemingly polished ice, wiping away the tiniest of misting to be able to see more into the ice. The form was of a young girl, though only barely recogniseable against the pure crimson that covered her form. An almost sickening sight, though Monique merely ignored it. There were no bandages, no attempts at bandaging the injuries, the wounds left fresh, like they were merely grazes, though it was more than obvious that the damage resembled severe burns more than anything else. From head to toe, that was all there was. Burns so bad that the flesh was bleeding, and infections were clearly starting to take over the more damaged parts of the girl's body. Monique glanced over at the gemstone sitting on top of the altar, before she moved a little closer carefully to take a proper look at the girl lying within the ice. There was a lot of blood covering the ground beneath the girl, a dark, near black colour to the blood. Long hair was soaked with blood, making the girl look like she had a dark red colour to her hair, rather than the misty blue that was supposed to be in her hair instead. Monique let out a breath after a few moments, and she carefully stood on her feet. Looking down at the painful sight of the nearly crippled girl, she sighed slightly, holding her hands above her head as she stretched slightly. She could see the form of the girl within the ice shift slightly, which caused her to frown slightly.

"Can't be having you wake up." Monique spoke, more to herself than anything else, however, as she saw the girl shift slightly again, she carefully placed her hands to the frozen substance that kept the injured girl in place. To bring the temperature down more than what was required to keep the ice intact was not a necessity, however, as Monique brought the temperature within the ice to a far colder temperature, the tiniest hints of consciousness from the girl slowly faded away. She frowned slightly, glancing down at her arms as she saw the girl cease moving – for the time being. She just needed to bring the temperature down that little bit more so the infections wouldn't spread.

"There, that should just about do it." Monique spoke, standing on her feet again. Her sight of the girl in the ice was not that good, a kind of mist was within the structure, showing how cold the temperature inside was. The sound of something smashing met Monique's hearing, and, as she looked over at the reflective wall to her right, the sight of broken mirrors was all that she could see. A deep frown crossed her face as she watched the last mirror break, and, she let out a breath in mild agitation. "Idiots, don't you want your little prisoner back?" She wondered out loud, her eyes flickering back to the girl lying within the cage of ice. "Too bad."


	38. Obscurus Iniustitia

Hey guys! I'm really sorry about the huge disappearing act I pulled in February! Moved house a few times, and things had been hectic. On top of that, there was no internet for a very long time, so I'm really sorry! I recieved a few messages complaining about my disappearance, and I'm sorry. I promise, before I suddenly up and disappear, I will have the three remaining fictions on this site finished before that happens. This is the first one on the list to be finished. Anyway, I didn't want to come back with just one chapter to put up here, I've got three key chapters in one hit for you all here, just because I'm really sorry. I don't know when the next time I'll be on is, but I hope it will be soon. I'll have more chapters to post next time, I promise =3 Thank you for sticking by! And I'm sorry!

* * *

_**-[**__**The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT: Obscurus Iniustitia**_

Silence rung throughout the area as the minutes ticked away, as Koenma stared down at the empty drawer with a stunned look across his face. The empty drawer held evidence that paper had previously been held within the wooden drawer, a few choice scraps of paper from the perforated pages of a tear out book remained scattered in the bottom, however, nothing else remained. He couldn't seem to get a hold of himself, the sight of the empty drawer was the most alarming sight he had seen since he had found out that Yusuke was half demon. His eyes shifted from the empty drawer, to the bin that remained just past the drawer, and, he saw that the bin was empty, completely. The bin was never empty, it took him hours to yell at the ogres to empty it for him, and he didn't leave it empty before.

He blinked, snapping himself straight up as if he had been staring at something that was foul and disgusting, and as his wide eyes scanned the rest of the office to try and locate anything else that was out of place since he left that morning, and he couldn't seem to spot anything, aside from a closer look at the papers sitting on his desk confirming the one thing that was making him begin to panic – Someone had gone through all of his papers, everything that he had in his office. Every pile on the top of his desk was out of their specific order, and stacked in the worst arrangement he had ever seen. If the drawer hadn't been emptied, he would have automatically set his conclusion to the ogres being lazy and making a disgusting arrangement of his papers again. Not this time though.

Shaking his head quickly, he place his gaze straight back down to the open drawer to his right, taking in the sight of the wooden, empty expanse with an intense gaze. The drawer was almost full that morning, he had just finished reading through the limited papers on the investigation of the black metallic substance that had covered the whole shopping district from that incident weeks beforehand, and now every shred of evidence was now gone. He looked to the papers on top of his desk, scanning how much had changed – He had only been gone for two hours at most, it was only one in the afternoon at that moment, and it was obvious that whatever, whoever had gone through his office had been long gone.

He stood up suddenly as he thought he heard someone calling him from the other side of his office door, though, as he looked up at it, he felt himself lose the remaining colour in his face as he realised there was no one there. Letting out a breath to calm himself down, he looked down at the little computer device sitting on the side of his desk, and even that was moved from it's previous place in the drawer on top of where Meia's papers had been. Hearing a familiar voice calling his name again, he bit down on his lip, closing his eyes and waving his hand over at the part of the room that he normally set his portals – the carpet was really worn down at that place, and the weaving of the carpet base was beginning to show. He needed to get that replaced soon, though that was the last thing on his mind at that moment.

The swirling mass of purple energy appeared in it's usual place, so usual that Koenma looked away from it as soon as he knew it was in place, and, he began to grab the huge piles of papers and merely dump them onto the floor next to the desk, not even taking a glance as the papers on the larger piles tipped over and scattered themselves all over the floor and out of order. This was all too convenient, far far too convenient. The many attempts to have her killed, the incarceration before her death, then upon her disappearance, all papers and possible signs of her have either been destroyed or stolen. This was far too close to be coincidence, far too close for it to just be the luck of the draw. Koenma was willing to bet his right hand on foul play, and he was positive that whoever was at the root of the problem, was in connection with his father. This was all planned, it just had to be planned. Everything went to hell the moment Meia was captured, and King Enma was taking full advantage of it. It was even beginning to cross Koenma's mind that King Enma might have had his fingers in all of the attacks and disappearances over the past two years.

The faintest footsteps met his hearing, and, he didn't look up as the silhouette of the silent fire apparition and the bitter spirit detective leader appeared not that far from the portal. Koenma felt a look of curiosity hit the side of his face as he merely pushed the last pile of paper onto the huge mound of scrambled papers, sending the papers so far as to hit the wall three meters away.

"What's up, Pacifier breath? Spring cleaning?" Came Yusuke's voice, dragging Koenma out of his momentary mindset of foul play.

"No, Yusuke, I'm not!" Koenma spat, and, he saw sudden alarm cross Yusuke's face. He let out a breath as he felt his agitation begin to boil into frustration and anger, and, he looked up at Yusuke after a few moments. "What do you want now?"

"Uh, came in ... to check if you found anything." Yusuke spoke hesitantly, and as Koenma's eye twitched, he spotted severe discomfort over the spirit detective's face.

"No, Yusuke, we've _not _found any clue into what has happened!" Koenma seethed, and, he saw a blank look cross Yusuke's face. "And there's _not _going to be an _investigation!"_ He spat as Yusuke opened his mouth to speak.

"What? Why not?" Yusuke demanded immediately.

"_BECAUSE, YUSUKE!" _Koenma shouted, and for the first time in all the time he had dealt with Yusuke, the spirit detective actually shrunk back in reaction to Koenma's outburst. Koenma narrowed his eyes upon the stunned spirit detective as he focused hard on lowering his voice. _"__**Meia**__ has been classed as MIA, an investigation's __**forbidden**__, and there's __**nothing**__ that you, or even __**I **__can do about it."_ Koenma seethed, and, there was no real movement from Yusuke. Hiei however, just watched in that condescending manner that he always watched the people around him in, and, it didn't make his attempt at calming himself down any easier.

"But – what about that huge fight over executing Meia–"

"_My fathers the one that's __**forbidden **__the investigation!" _Koenma almost spat, and Yusuke's dumbfounded expression didn't exactly help his temperament. _"So, if you don't like it, then you can just __**leave**__, because I don't have the patience to deal with your insolence!"_ He really wanted to go throw many projectiles at his father, anything that would inflict some kind of harm upon him at that moment, but he couldn't, and all he could do was brood over his fathers 'Under the Rug' ploy.

"B-but – what about that woman you took into custody?" Yusuke spoke hesitantly, and, Koenma felt the anger suddenly disappear for a few moments. He had completely forgotten about the suspect that Yusuke had taken to disarming and almost crippled. He didn't answer, staring at Yusuke for a few moments as he thought on that statement. His grip on the investigations and answers might not have been entirely stolen from him after all. His father might not have taken everything, just yet. Koenma glared at the desktop after a few moments, taking a few seconds to think on his actions carefully before he decided.

"Go and pack Meia's belongings, everything that you can." Koenma spoke, receiving a deadpan look from Yusuke. "Just do it, now." Koenma spoke, and, as he stood up in his seat, he saw a frown cross Yusuke's face.

"Fine." He grumbled, turning around to head back through the portal. Koenma looked at Hiei after a few moments, who was still standing just next to the portal on the right.

"Do whatever you want, I'll ask for your report next time." Koenma spoke in a brisk manner, and as he leapt out of his chair to head out of the office, he felt a condescending glare hit the side of his face as he moved. The doors opened, and closed without too much problem, and as Koenma ran down the corridor to the right, he waved his right hand to close the portal.

_I forgot about the suspect, I can't __**believe**__ I forgot about the suspect!_ Koenma thought, sprinting down the corridors towards the prisoner cells, though there was only three beings in there – the last prisoner taken was from over four centuries beforehand. The interrogation, he was supposed to be conducting it, and he would have conducted it before if he hadn't of found that his papers had been searched through.

Turning down the corridor to the right on the other side of the castle, Koenma slid to a halt at the open door. The prisoner ward, wasn't as empty as he had previously thought – Four spirit world soldiers were standing on either side of the door to one of the cells, the special forces unit that had come and essentially twisted his arm into leaving the disappearance site fifteen minutes beforehand. In fact, as Koenma saw another of the soldiers step out of the cell, he felt his anger beginning to rise into full force as he saw the red haired soldier from that morning.

_No, this can't be happening! Not now! _

"What is the purpose of this!" Koenma demanded, his teeth gritting together forcefully as the soldiers other than the leader of the group looked to him.

"Escorting Miss Kuroi to safety, Lord Koenma." Came that cold, stone voice of the soldier from before, and Koenma felt all of the frustration he had been feeling over the past four months just burst into full flame.

"She was taken into _my custody! Not yours!" _Koenma seethed, and, the leader of the group of soldiers just looked at Koenma casually over his shoulder.

"And she was taken into custody under false pretences. Miss Kuroi is a victim of your spirit detective's out of control behaviour." The soldier spoke, and Koenma saw him turn to face him casually, folding his hands behind his back. "Therefore, we have complete jurisdiction over her safety."

"_My father's to blame for this too?_" Koenma spat, and, he saw the soldier smirk slightly.

"King Enma has given us specific orders to eliminate anyone who oppose, and as such, even one such as yourself, cannot intervein."

"You're acting to _support _the corruption in this world! Not fix it!" Koenma shouted, and, that smirk across the soldiers face turned into a broad, gloating grin.

"We swore complete loyalty to the rule of King Enma, as such, we will do whatever we can to aid out king in whatever he sees fit." The leader spoke, and, as Koenma stood there motionless, he saw the soldiers step away from the door of the cell. "Miss Kuroi, it's time to leave." Koenma watched, feeling the last of his anger suddenly fade away to make room for the sensation of futility. As the soldiers walked past him and to the door down the left end of the corridor, a large, severely beaten figure slumped out of the cell. The form of Barnette, smirking toothily at the silent toddler ruler cackled in laughter that sounded inhuman.

"You can't touch me!" She howled, her voice sounding deformed as she walked in a carefree manner. "Your little brat's gone! And there's nothing you can do about it!" Nothing could have made him feel that useless, that inferior at that moment. There was nothing he could do, he just watched as the last hope he had to finding _some _form of answer stumbled out of the prisoner ward, untouchable to everyone that was not King Enma himself.


	39. The Winds Of Sorrowstorms

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY NINE: The Winds Of Sorrowstorms**_

The winds swept through the forest with the grace of a dove as the sun began to set in the horizon. Many of the beings that resided within the boundaries of the vibrant foliage began to drift into their moments of slumber, and the night time beings began to stir with the approaching dusk. For a winters evening, there were no clouds, rather, it seemed there to be very little rain about at all considering that it was supposed to be the coldest part of the season. Brown, dried leaves floated past the picket-fence that lined the property within the forest, and, the being that remained flat on his back in front of the lake merely glared up at the bare tree branches above his head. His untidy, black hair shifted with the winds of the forest, and, as he shook his head a little to shake the strands of hair from his eyes, he let out a large, and exasperated breath. His jacket was completely covered with leaves, and, his jeans were stained with patches of metallic black, and patches of a near black substance that had the scent of blood. There were no sounds of anyone else around, he was alone there, and his temper was beginning to rise with his thoughts. His glare grew far more pronounced as a leaf fell onto his face, and, he kicked the trunk of the tree that was just a few inches away from his feet. A loud, almost deafening crunch echoed loudly, and, as the being glared even more, the tree suddenly gave a great shudder, and, began to fall to the ground away from him.

"Stupid pacifier junkie!" He ground out in a temperamental manner, and, he rolled onto his side with a grunt of annoyance as more leaves continued to fall onto his front. He felt his temper grow a little stronger as the tiniest hints of a turbulent wind swept past him suddenly, and, he shut his eyes to block out the sight of the swirling purple energy that was beginning to appear a few meters away. The sounds of footsteps met his hearing after a few moments, and, an almost filthy expression crossed his face as he recognised the light footsteps. Nothing seemed to be helping his temper. He was almost tempted to take his temper out on the closest cause of his irritation, and he didn't really care about any of the consequences that would be coming his way if he did.

"Yusuke." Came another, unnoticed presence's voice, causing Yusuke to take notice of it after a moment. "I don't believe the forest deserves to be torn to pieces."

"It's just one tree." He retorted in a spoilt manner, and, no real comment came his way. He opened his eyes and looked over to where the voice came from, to see the red-headed being beginning to walk back to the house. His eyes narrowed on the black-clad being that was seated on the windowsill of the dining room, and, his temper came back in full force. The next closest being to take his temper out on, was in fact, the black-clad fire apparition, though he just didn't have the patience to try and antagonise that one – it was kind of a bit risky, considering that the being had seemed to have had an even worse temper since the unclassified apparition girl had in fact disappeared in that battle involving the metallic creatures.

Yukina was supposed to be heading through back to the icy lands that she used to live before coming to the human world, and the Spirit Detective team was supposed to be escorting her through to the edges of the icy lands, due to unidentifiable demon activity that had suddenly burst into movement since the incident with Meia's disappearance. A little more than a week since Meia's disappearance, and they were already set onto other jobs, other assignments that did not involve tearing that church apart, or trying to track down what those things had done with her. Koenma had been acting a little strange since the whole event, in fact, more than a little strange. He had been silent aside from when he had to speak, and he never had anyone other than himself in the room when the spirit detectives came to receive their orders. In fact, Koenma seemed to be burning every piece of paper that he would find, or that he would write, that was not in any connection with the current assignments that he had been giving.

Yusuke let out a breath as he heard multiple footsteps approaching, and, he just wanted to break something. It wasn't right that there was no search party, no effort whatsoever to find the girl in the least. It seemed very much that the whole disappearance was all part of some plan, Yusuke wasn't stupid – he knew it wasn't Koenma that had decided not to search for Meia.

Genkai hadn't been told about Meia's disappearance, however, it seemed that there was no need to tell her, for Yukina arrived that morning with a solemn look of disappointment – Genkai had told her that something might have happened it seemed, for Yukina didn't look that surprised to see that Meia was nowhere within the house. Though the disappointment was understandable, Yukina was in fact fond of Meia's presence, it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure that out.

Yusuke let out a breath of annoyance as he dragged himself to his feet carefully, looking over at the tree he had kicked off of it's balance, and fallen. A small, young looking squirrel was at that moment, trying as hard as it could to get it's supply of acorns out of the tree, and to find a new home. He lost his frown slowly, watching the sight with the tiniest of deja vu hitting him. The sight seemed, somewhat familiar, like he had seen it somewhere else before. He began to head towards the house – it was at sunset that the whole assignment had to take place, and it was essentially that – sunset.

Entering the house, it wasn't that hard to see that it wasn't only Yusuke that was bothered by the whole lack of searching for Meia. He could see the tiniest hints of Kuwabara to the right side of the lounge room, shuffling huge piles of papers with the most concentrated look he had ever seen over the humans face. Raising an eyebrow, Yusuke let out a breath and began to head over to where the human was seated – looking at what he was doing wasn't going to pose any real problem as far as he could tell. He came to a halt next to the table, blinking slightly as he looked down at the papers in front of the human – who was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't notice Yusuke approach. The papers were what Yusuke immediately saw as missing posters, which were all about Meia, giving a contact number if anyone were to have seen her. Yusuke looked at the photograph on the papers, and he lost all hints of a frown as he saw the one photograph that he had ever seen of Meia, and it was of her asleep on the couch of her own apartment, clearly, Motoko must have taken it a while back. Though Meia had short hair then, and it spiked up everywhere. At least, the photograph had Meia's face and everything, the long hair could be guessed at from the date on the photograph.

"What're you doing? We've gotta go to Demon world in a minute." Yusuke asked, and, he saw Kuwabara look up at him with the least amount of energy he had seen in the human.

"Koenma said he doesn't want me goofin' off in Demon world and getting everyone killed." Kuwabara explained in a close to monotonous tone, and Yusuke blinked momentarily. "Gonna put these up while everyone's out."

"All of them?" Yusuke asked in disbelief, and he saw Kuwabara shrug slightly.

"Was thinking about it." Kuwabara replied, and, Yusuke blinked again.

"She was dragged through a mirror, not just lost downtown where people can find her." Yusuke commented, and, he saw Kuwabara frown slightly.

"Who cares?" He replied, and Yusuke let out a breath.

"Fine, whatever makes you happy. Pacifier breath's just gonna get off his puny ass and pull them all down anyway." He replied, turning and beginning to leave the loungeroom, heading to the kitchen where the remaining food from lunch was located on the counter. He already didn't want to go out into the snow at that moment, but since he had to, then he might as well tax what was left of the lunch to keep him at least a little less ropeable. Yukina was sitting in the kitchen with Kurama, Yusuke only just noticed them as he walked in through the door, which caused him to mutter a quiet form of greeting, and then, he leant over the counter to grab the large ham and cheese roll on the plate next to Kurama. "We ready to go?" Yusuke asked before he took a bite out of the roll, seeing Kurama smile fractionally.

"I believe so, as soon as Kuwabara is finished with what he's doing." Kurama replied, and Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

"He said Koenma's told him to stay here." Yusuke spoke through the mouthful of roll, and Kurama blinked in slight surprise.

"That is odd." Kurama commented, though, it was obvious that Kurama didn't place too much thought into it as he got to his feet and looked down at Yukina. "Well, shall we go then, Yukina?"

"Yes, I'd like to get back to the ice lands before dawn." Yukina commented, and Yusuke glanced at the window that he had seen Hiei seated at before. Though no sight of the fire demon was to be seen, Yusuke could distinctly sense his presence around, somewhere. He frowned a little more than he had been before, and, he turned and began to head out of the kitchen – the sooner the assignment was over, the sooner he could get back to his 'sulking', as Keiko had worded it that morning. The thought of her opinion of his displeasure over the whole situation brought a glare over his face, and, he began to walk out of the house to yell at Koenma to send a portal for them. However, before he got the chance to, the sight of a portal hovering a little to the left of the lake met his gaze, and he merely rolled his eyes as he began to approach the swirling mass of purple energy.

Stepping through the portal, Yusuke found that the turbulence was more ferocious than normal, and he found himself squeezing his eyes shut against the force of the wind, until he felt the turbulence end, and the bone chilling cold of another land met his senses. The land in front of him was, when he opened his eyes to look out, was covered in a veil of darkness – black skies, no stars and grey lands stood before him. The cold resembled something of a snowy winter, though he couldn't see any snow around to identify the difference between his world's late autumn weather and the coldest snowstorm he had ever experienced. Tracing the lands in front of him, he heard the tiniest hints of the other beings coming through the portal behind him.

"Man, thought Pacifier breath woulda wanted to throw a tantrum before sending us out here." Yusuke commented, and he heard no real reply from the people behind him, causing him to look over at where the portal was over his shoulder. The sight of Kurama and Yukina, he had expected to see, however, Kurama was looking over at Hiei with an odd look as he walked onwards towards the horizon to the right.

"I suppose we had better head off." Kurama commented, looking back at Yusuke, and he felt a slight twinge of annoyance overcome his already annoyed self as he saw the fire apparition continue onwards without a single thought, or word for that matter – though the lack of words was kind of in the ordinary for him. Kurama walked past Yusuke, and then Yukina walked, causing Yusuke to frown, however, he then followed – it was sensible to have someone walking at the back of the group – and it wasn't like he knew the way to go anyway. It seemed like there was to be a no talking trek through to the icy plains, which made Yusuke wish he had brought his MP3 player, just for something to listen to other than his own mental bickering – he was more than certain that he was going to drive himself insane before the end of the assignment.

The first sights of the icy lands brought relief over Yusuke faster than he felt the need to tear the church apart, and as he blinked at the sight of the ice and snow, he then noticed the pure intensity of the cold. His teeth chattering didn't drown out the sounds of the people around him, and as he saw Hiei come to a halt several meters ahead, he came to a halt just after Kurama and Yukina.

"Thank you for your help, I appreciate it." Yukina spoke, and Yusuke blinked in shock after a moment. Weren't they just stopping for a little break?

"Huh?" He shook his head quickly as he saw Yukina begin to head onwards, without the movement of Kurama and Hiei, which confused him more than anything else. "Aren't we supposed to take you to your village, or wherever the hell your people live?"

"My village is just a little further." Yukina spoke kindly as she paused to look back at him, and, Yusuke frowned slightly as he saw the ice apparition bow forward slightly. "I should be fine for the rest of the way. Please give my thanks to Koenma as well."

"Fine." Yusuke commented bitterly, and, he squinted after Yukina as he tried to spot some signs of life within the icy lands. No sign of any civilisation within the frozen wastelands met his gaze, and before he could see any real indication of how fierce the storm was, he could no longer see any sign of Yukina. He bit down on his lip to silence that nagging voice in the back of his mind that had made itself known since Meia's disappearance, and listened to the howling of the snowstorm. "We heading back then?" He asked after a few moments, turning on his right foot slightly after a few moments to look over at Kurama and Hiei, who were still standing in their places, and watching something he couldn't see through the snowstorm.

Just as Kurama opened his mouth to reply, as the howling of the wind grew so intense no other sounds could possibly be heard, a faint, yet blood curdling scream echoed throughout the lands, striking more bone-chilling cold into Yusuke than the fierce snowstorm had achieved.


	40. Crimson Ice

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY: Crimson Ice**_

The howling wind lashed at the forms as they ran, slashing against the exposed skin relentlessly as the beings tried to reach the place that the blood-curdling scream had come from. It was hard to navigate, and to Yusuke, it was obvious that it was even hard for Hiei to navigate, the intense look of concentration across the fire apparitions face was just as obvious as the sight of the rising sun in the distance. It was nearing dawn, as Yukina had wished, they were in the land of the ice apparitions before dawn. The ground suddenly sunk, leading into a suddenly much lower stretch of land that the winds swept above, rather than through. Visibility was somewhat restored, and, it wasn't too hard to spot the form of the ice apparition kneeling twenty meters ahead of them. Though they couldn't see her face, her back was to them, they could tell that no harm had come to the girl. Discoloured snow met Yusuke's gaze a few seconds after spotting Yukina, and he slid to a halt immediately.

"What the hell?" Yusuke exclaimed, his gaze upon the discoloured snow in pure shock – he knew what that colour meant. The snow several meters ahead of Yukina resembled the colour of blood, so much blood that it looked like a fierce battle to the death had taken place, though there were no visible bodies, as far as Yusuke could tell. The blood spread for many meters, covering the snow completely, almost enough to make Yusuke feel quite ill. The scent that belonged to the blood was the furtherest thing from human, and by that same token, was the furtherest thing from any demon blood he had ever smelt. The scent was overwhelmingly strong, smelling thick with a sweet scent that most definitely didn't belong anywhere near the arctic climate.

Taking grip of himself, Yusuke snapped himself out of his freeze as the sight of Hiei stepping past him met his conscious thought, and, he began to approach the bloody snow as well. The blood seemed to extend further than the snowstorm allowed them to see, and Yusuke could feel his stomach churning the closer to the blood he got – though it was strange, he had been around a lot of battles, a lot of bloodshed with no problem, and yet, this particular time, he was feeling unwell. He didn't step in the snow the blood covered, stepping around it rather than Hiei, who proceeded without any real problem, though the look on his face was the furtherest thing from indifference.

The tiniest hints of civilisation lay beyond, just barely visible through the snowstorm thanks to the sun that was just starting to illuminate the lands properly. The blood was fresh, barely an hour old, though there had been no signs of a battle in the time before Yukina stumbled upon the battlefield. Huge spikes of ice began to appear out of the snow like stalagmites, a clear blue colour in contrast with the white of the snow around them. Many of them lay broken, also splattered with the blood that covered the snow. Shards of ice covered the grounds, throwing the tiniest hints of glimmering light in the thick blood as if one of the huge pillars of ice had been obliterated with a high-powered explosion of some sort, though no scorch marks were seen anywhere. Yusuke's gaze traced over to the edges of the bloody grounds as Hiei continued inwards to the centre of the blood. Lines of black traced along the edges of the blood, no white snow remained between the two coloured substances, and, Yusuke frowned slightly as he crouched down along the edge of the blood and scooped up a handful of the stained snow.

The black resembled a kind of metallic liquid, somewhat solid though due to the cold of the snow. The black seemed to be unable to mix with the blood, like the inability of mixing between oil and water, causing him to stare in confusion. He had seen the black substance somewhere before – it smelt thickly of melting iron, despite the strong, overwhelming scent of the blood, which caused him to think quickly. The last time he had come across the scent of melting iron, was in that church as he watched those white, skeletal arms stretch out through the mirror and take hold of Meia.

"Hiei!" Yusuke called, staring down at the snow as he felt some form of hope begin to swell up in his chest, dropping the handful of snow to grab hold of the bottle in the front pocket of his jacket. No response met his call, though he only frowned slightly as he emptied the bottle of his remaining water, and, carefully, he scooped a generous amount of both the metal and blood into bottle. He wasn't stupid. Koenma suddenly taking to destroying everything he wrote or read straight after Meia's disappearance was not a coincidence, and, he knew better than to just let the first clue in the puzzle disappear in the snowstorms. He closed the bottle after several moments, making sure the lid was on tightly as he looked up towards the centre of the bloody snow. "Hiei!" Yusuke called again, louder this time, though there was still no reply. Yusuke frowned as he straightened up, and, reluctantly, he began to step through the bloody snow towards where he could sense Hiei's presence.

The wind was still howling just as relentlessly as before, though it seemed the volume was higher than out in the full force of the wind. Yusuke squinted through the snow as he stepped closer towards Hiei, and, as he almost tripped into the snow from a misplaced step, he spotted the faint silhouette of Hiei standing several meters ahead, and, unmoving. Surely, this was close to the centre of the bloody battlefield, Yusuke was certain they were over fifty meters in from the edge of the blood. Yusuke came to a halt a few meters back from Hiei, his gaze taking in the strangely motionless fire apparition curiously. A dark look remained across the fire apparitions face, causing Yusuke to blink in slight confusion – he hadn't seen a dark look like that across the fire apparitions face for a very long time, though he couldn't remember when that was, and what the cause was. All he knew was that it was a very long time ago.

"Uh, Hiei?" Yusuke spoke carefully after a few moments, and, as he got no real reply from Hiei, he directed his gaze to what the fire apparition was staring at. He saw nothing, really, for the first few moments he stared, and then, after he blinked, he spotted something that didn't match the sickening carpet of blood beneath their feet. The ground from about five meters in front of Hiei's feet, sinking into a huge pit that was about twenty meters deep. The diameter of the huge pit was over thirty meters wide, and, all of the walls and floor of the huge pit were soaked in the same blood as the ground they were standing on. Yusuke squinted deeper into the pit after a few moments, trying to spot anything that would show some sign of what had Hiei's dark attention, and, he couldn't really spot anything from where he was standing, asside from the fact that there seemed to be some kind of hollow in the middle of the pit. He stole a glance at Hiei after a few moments, frowning slightly at the fact that Hiei hadn't responded to anything that he would say since, well, since that assignment that Koenma had him take with Meia and Barnette.

He frowned, and began to approach the pit in the snow, guessing that the pit wasn't really supposed to be there – and he did begin to wonder about it, there hadn't been any change in altitude or terrain for more than fifteen kilometers. Hiei remained motionless, choosing to stand where he was and watch, which didn't surprise Yusuke in any shape or form. Dropping down into the pit carefully after several moments thought, Yusuke straightened up to look into the centre of the large pit, and, it was only then that he noticed what had clearly captured Hiei's attention. A large pillar of ice rose out of the snow ten meters ahead of them, partially obscured by the snow that floated past his gaze with the wind. The pillar was actually intact, and, for some strange reason, not covered with the blood that covered the grounds around it. Yusuke felt himself take a few paces forward slowly as his eyes slowly widened.

A silhouette hung within the pillar of ice, a small silhouette that resembled the form of a small, petit form that Yusuke vaguely recognised. Faint lines of what Yusuke guessed to be blood streaked through the ice lightly, and massed around the centre of the pillar of ice. Yusuke felt his feet stop a few meters from the pillar, and, he stared into the pillar as the sun began to illuminate more of the lands as the snowstorm began to die down. The thin, petit limbs of the figure within the ice hung limp against the figure's side, and, despite the amount of blood distorting the view of the figure, it was not hard to identify the fact that the figure was female, though, it was clear that the figure was not human. Long lines of crimson hung in the ice in a circulating manner around the figure, long plaits and loose strings that were clearly hair. The sight of several thin chains was next to meet Yusuke's conscious thought, winding themselves up the limbs of the figure within the ice. The skin of the figure was stained red, like blood, and, broken pixie wings ran down the back of the figure. The figure was tiny, smaller than Hiei, and even smaller than Meia had been, however, the figure wasn't a child. Yusuke's gaze shifted from the many injuries that made his whole body feel sore, to the figure's face. He couldn't see much of the figure's face, but, it was just enough for him to feel an overwhelming sense of panic – he knew it was Meia there, it couldn't be anyone else.

"Meia!" He shouted, knocking on the ice with force to try and get some form of reaction from the girl within the ice. "Hey! Meia?"

"I can't hear a heartbeat." Came Kurama's voice, so quiet he almost didn't hear it. Yusuke flinched in sudden fright, and snapped his gaze to the Kitsune without hesitation, blinking as he saw a look of regret across the man's face. It seemed that Kurama had decided to drop down into the pit to investigate as well.

"What're you saying? She can't be dead!" Yusuke retorted petulantly, looking quickly from Kurama to the silently present Hiei a few meters back, then back to Kurama again. Meia had survived attack and accidents alike, there just couldn't be any way that she'd be dead – no!

"Yusuke." Kurama spoke, forcefully, though just as quiet as before. "_No one _can survive being frozen solid in ice like that, not even the ice masters of the shinobi can." Yusuke blinked quickly, and, he felt his temper beginning to get out of hand again.

"_She's not dead!"_ Yusuke shouted as he pointed to the figure in the ice that was Meia, glaring daggers at the Kitsune now. Kurama let out a breath as Yusuke looked from Meia, to Kurama quickly, then, back to Meia again. He had hoped more than anything else that the thing in the mirror had just kidnapped Meia, not incarcerate her out in the middle of nowhere in the centre of a bloody battlefield. He could feel his refusal to accept her as dead begin to make way for rationality as he then thought on what Kurama had said.

"She's not dead." Came the voice of Hiei, causing both Yusuke and Kurama to look at the fire apparition in shock – they had gotten so used to his lack of speech that they had more or less assumed he was going to be silent for the rest of the month.

"Are you sure?" Kurama asked, a slight tone of apprehension overcoming his voice. Hiei looked to the Kitsune from Meia, and, Yusuke just then noticed one thing – Hiei's Jagan wasn't covered up like normal.

"Her _body _is dead." Hiei clarified, and, he placed his gaze back to the girl in the ice. Silence met his statement, and, the only sounds that echoed around the area, was the howling wind of the arctic climate around them.


	41. Usagi Kuroi

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY ONE: Usagi Kuroi**_

_Drip ..._

The faint sounds of liquid dripping down into a large body of water echoed throughout the area relentlessly, like the slow, monotone sound of an old antique clock, chiming out the time in a dreary, tired voice. The echoing sounds were far off, many meters away, though the sound was not missed. The sounds rebounded throughout the area, echoing the sounds effectively against the uneven walls. Despite the wind that howled just as relentlessly as the liquid dripped, though it was effectively drowned out, almost completely. The damp in the air helped with blocking out the wind, a heavy, almost stifling scent of salt mixed with the damp. The cold chill to the heavy air had the snap of frost to it, though there was no real frost to the ground, the liquid flowed freely to the body of the same fluids below.

_... Drip ... Drip ..._

Slowly, blurs of colour flickered into view, dull, almost grey colours that blurred into the black that had previously engulfed vision. Though only just, the colours flickered so much that it was obvious that vision was poor. The grey flickered more noticeably, then, almost suddenly, everything went black. That dreary, dripping sound of liquid was still there, in full force it seemed. Then ... Silence.

The painful sensation of the cold began to eat more and more, and it was only during that silence, that she actually moved. Weak, almost blind eyes slowly blinked, The edges of her eyes were crusted over, almost completely sealed over with the dried blood that covered her whole form. Her form was far too weak to really shudder against the cold, and as she tried to blink away the dried blood, her poor gaze began to slowly adapt. Not even the howling winds were heard anymore, dead silence rung throughout the area as she slowly lifted her strangely heavy right arm to try and rub the dried blood from her eyes.

There was essentially no light, nothing that gave any sign as to where she was or what was around her. Even with the slight removal of the dried blood, she couldn't really see much. She slowly shifted her weight onto her side, letting her head rest against the cold stone beneath her form as she listened to the silence around her. Her breathing, as she could hear, was faint, far too faint in comparison to normal, and, she actually focused some of her feeble attention on checking if she was in fact, breathing. Slowly, she felt her tired, weak eyes beginning to close, and she didn't deny her almost useless senses that action.

The sudden sounds of something large crashing into the liquid deeper within the strange room met her gaze, and almost instantly, her eyes snapped open in fright. She hadn't heard anything around her for more than a minute. Nothing really met her weak gaze, her sight picked out nothing around her, not even the tiniest hints of where the pool of liquid could be located. She let out a breath slowly, allowing her weak body to relax as the sounds of the rippling water died out. Her weak gaze, as she began to close her eyes again, fell upon something out of what she would call normal, at least, with her out of the ordinary life at that moment, and, she tried to force her eyes to take in more detail as her weak eyes narrowed in on the small patch of glossy black.

A rabbit, about the size of a bread plate sat on the stone ground just out of her reach, pure white eyes staring straight into her own blood crusted eyes as she fought to hide back her sudden fright. Long, black ears lay flat against it's furry back, the tiniest hints of light in the strange room shone against it's strangely glossy coat, and, as she managed to drag herself upright, she saw that it wasn't moving. Remaining perfectly motionless, she began to wonder if it was actually really there – this wouldn't be the first time she had imagined seeing something that wasn't really there. With her slowly improving eyesight, she observed the strange creature, before slowly holding her right hand out to pet it between the ears. She hadn't even touched the creature, when she blinked, and, as if she really did imagine the creatures existence, it was suddenly gone the moment she opened her eyes again.

Before she even realised it, the sounds of the liquid dripping down into the pool of fluids below was echoing once again, though, in more volume and haste than it had been before. Her gaze shifted from where the rabbit had been, to her arm slowly as her vision began to improve, and, she saw nothing but blood covering her arm. She blinked as she took in that piece of information. Despite the fact that the blood had the scent of a kind of sweet substance, it wasn't too hard to decipher the fact that it did belong to her – she recognised the ice-cold that her blood brought, and, the scent wasn't all that different from what hers used to be. Despite the fact of the blood, she couldn't identify any real injuries that she had sustained, nor could she identify any real pain in her body, though she did feel cold, despite the fact that she was beginning to sweat. Lifting a hand to touch her forehead, she could feel that she was running a fever, though, she only felt unwell. Perhaps, her imparring vision was partly due to the fever she seemed to have?

She slowly dragged herself to her feet, her weak gaze carefully tracing the area around her as she steadied herself on her feet carefully upon being upright. The unwell feeling she had in her body slowly began to grow more intense, though, she put a lot of effort into putting the thought to the back of her mind – she needed to identify where she was exactly.

The room, as she focused then on taking in the area around her, was made completely of stone, and resembled a kind of room within a cavern system. The ground where she had been lying was covered with the same dried blood that was over her, and, as she stepped over to the centre of the room, she slowly began to pick out more detail in the room. A hollow was upon the wall to her right, a kind of passage that turned immediately to the right, zigzagging through the rock wall like a snake would slither along the ground. A second look around the room identified the fact that the rabbit was not there, bringing her to bite down on her bottom lip and head for the strange path out of the room. Running a hand along the wall, she made certain that her weak legs wouldn't crumble beneath her as she walked. The wall was just as cold as the floor, and it was almost becoming difficult to comprehend that a cavern like this wasn't made completely out of ice. The sounds of dripping water quickly began to cascade to a waterfall, and as she reached the end of the zigzagging path, her gaze, now almost at normal visibility, fell upon the sight within the huge room before her.

The huge cavern in front of her was just as dark as the room before, though light reflected far more effectively than before. The dripping water that she had been hearing was in fact, a stretch of what appeared to be water, which fell from the centre of the ceiling into the floor below. A pool of the same liquid covered the whole floor, and seemed to drain outwards through the walls as she walked along the edges, where the water only came up to her ankles. Many lines of black stretched out around the room, straight lines that seemed somewhat unnatural in comparison to the natural shaping of the rest of the cavern. There was still very little colour, greys and dark, almost grey blues was all that she could really see, and, as she looked back at the huge funnel of water, she began to wonder where exactly the water was getting out. A large space of ground that was untouched by the water set in the far side of the huge cavern caught her attention, and, as she began to head for the waterless surface, she noticed something that froze her in her tracks.

Upon the island-resembling ground ahead of her, stood a huge, apearingly dead tree. Of the colour of Onyx, the tree looked to be made more of stone than wood, and, though the many leaves of black reflected the faint light that seemed to filter out of the very walls, it didn't help the suddenly sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The lines of black that she had been seeing throughout the cavern were chains, she could identify them now, and, as she fought against that sick feeling in her stomach, she managed to look up to the very top of the tree. Where she had hoped, was a tunnel leading straight to the surface, or light, or something to signify where she was, there was nothing but the same cold, grey stone of the cavern. Completely sealed in. But, how did she get there? How did she always get there? In those dreams that she always had beneath that tree? She blinked in sudden shock, and, she looked down at her hands at the thoughts that began to suddenly pour into her head. How was she able to move her body so freely? She wasn't supposed to be able to do that!

The sounds of the funnel of water suddenly died out, drowning the room in a deafening silence. She hesitantly looked over to where the funnel of water had been, to see that the water was still, motionless, as if it was just a lake that hadn't been disturbed in days. The thumping of her heart within her chest echoed through her ears as she stared at the still water, and, as she felt her body tensen with stress, she felt her knees begin to shake. This wasn't a dream like all those other times. Not this. She felt her whole body flinch as the deafening silence began to slowly press down on her very spirit, and, within a second, her unsteady feet were crashing through the still waters with less volume than her heart seemed to be displaying. She couldn't go back to that empty cavern – it was too far for her to run, she needed land, she knew she did. Her right foot, barely an inch from the lip of the island, was suddenly snatched up by sudden pain, and, as her leg was ripped up into the air, taking her flailing body with it. The weight of her body began to throw itself back down towards the ground, and at the angle she was at, the water. Her panicked gaze fell upon many swinging and lashing lines of black that came lashing straight up to her, chains of steel and blood that coiled up her form relentlessly, and swung her weak form straight into the thick trunk of the onyx tree.

Blinding white spots spread across her shut eyes as the back of her head collided with the stone trunk of the onyx tree, and as she managed to open her eyes against the pain of the knock, she wished she hadn't forced herself to look. Her head, tilted up towards the ceiling against the chains, caught sight of something that made her almost panic. White, cold eyes stared straight into her eyes, the eyes belonging to the same rabbit she had seen beforehand sitting upon the branch just in front of her, though, they spoke nothing but bloodlust. Blinking furiously in the hope that the rabbit would disappear like before, she was met with fear as the rabbit didn't disappear, but rather, seemed to come closer the more she would blink. She couldn't hear anything but the thudding of her heart, and, as she fought against the chains that bound every limb tightly, her gaze shifted from the rabbit, to the walls that seemed to turn red.

She blinked her wide eyes, her panicked gaze staring at the walls that were now flowing with fluids, which resembled blood. Flicking her wild gaze around the walls, she then ascertained that all the walls were flowing with blood. Her breathing was so fast she was feeling pain, and, as she hesitantly looked up at where the rabbit had been, she felt all shreds of her feeble composure vanish. There was no rabbit, no sign of the creature that spoke nothing but bloodlust, and, her body fell motionless as she saw that the red fluids were now seeping from the ceiling. The fluids slowly dripped down onto her form, and, searing pain suddenly flared where the blood touched. Burning pain, like she was on fire herself, though there were no flames to explain that kind of pain. The scent of burning flesh hit her hard as the whole room began to fill with the red fluids, and the pain of burning flesh took over her whole form.

The red fluids flooded over the ground the onyx tree stood upon, slowly rising with the seeping fluids, the pain growing more intense in time with the rising fluids.


	42. Truth Behind Hand Sewn Smiles

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY TWO: Truth Behind Hand Sewn Smiles**_

Yusuke remained silent as he stood against the icy wall of the huge pit he was standing in. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets to block out what cold he could, and, as he stared up at the sky above his head, the tiniest hints of movement over towards the centre of the pit met his frozen ears. The sky above him was only just reaching mid-morning, and as he remained motionless against the frozen winds howling above him, he ventured a guess towards what time it could have been at that moment. It had been an hour since Kurama had left, perhaps he was making sure he was more than far enough from the Ice apparition village before he called for Koenma's portal. Or maybe he was still talking with Koenma. Either which way, it didn't really matter. He was taking a while.

Hiei was standing not that far from the frozen apparition girl in silence, his jagan covered again with his usual white bandanna, though it was obvious to Yusuke that Hiei wasn't exactly done trying to figure something out. It wasn't too hard for Yusuke to notice that the fire apparition was looking for something in particular in the first place. He let out a weary breath as he listened to the howling winds above his head. He wished they all had thought for a few moments before Kurama disappeared off to go and alert Koenma about Meia's reappearance. Not only was the fact that her body was dead, but the fact that her soul was somehow still imprisoned within her body was more than suspicious.

Then, there was the fact that Koenma didn't even seem to trust his own workers. Then there was the fact that Meia was to be executed, then, as soon as she was wiped off the face of the earth for the time that she was gone, it was more than obvious to Yusuke that if they tried to get the girl back in order and, somewhat living again, then the whole of spirit world was going to have not only the girl killed, but the whole spirit detective team as well – Yusuke wasn't stupid, he knew King Enma was more than capable of doing something like that. There wasn't really anything that he could do, and it was beginning to make his blood boil. He wasn't really one to have a temper, though this uselessness in what was going on was truly beginning to piss him off.

The sounds of a portal appearing met Yusuke's hearing, and, he looked to the right in slight confusion as the portals appearance from the corner of his eye caught his attention. He blinked feeling shock overcoming him as he definitely ascertained that the mass of purple was in fact, the usual portal. He was lost for words, turning to run over to the portal – what was a portal doing here? He thought this was a land where any other spiritual influences, whether portal or something else, wasn't tolerated? At least, it had been since a few years ago. The portal continued to hover, and, in the place of Kurama, someone that clearly was not Kurama stumbled out of the portal, clad in deep blue. Yusuke blinked in pure confusion as he recognised the form of Koenma, and, as Koenma stepped forward to approach the pillar of ice in the middle of the pit, Kurama stepped out of the portal, a stern look across his face as teenager Koenma stepped faster still. The portal disappeared as Yusuke watched Koenma in pure confusion, and, as Kurama looked over, Koenma came to a halt at the huge pillar of ice.

"What's pacifier breath doin' here?" Yusuke asked after several moments, looking over at Kurama as the kitsune man stopped just next to him.

"Koenma wouldn't hear anything of postponing coming out here for even a minute." Kurama commented, a weary tone to his voice.

"Then why's he looking so panicked?" Yusuke asked, glancing at Koenma momentarily. There was silence for several moments, causing Yusuke to look up at the Kitsune after a few moments. "What?"

"It's nothing of importance." Kurama spoke, though his voice sounded a little ... off, for some reason, though it wasn't in his mind to really pursue why that was. He took to just beginning to head over to the flustered spirit world being, to take in the look across his face before he turned into that same know-it-all being that Yusuke found more irritating than Kuwabara's stupidity at times.

Hiei was motionless, standing several meters away from the pillar of ice now, and, Yusuke came to a halt just behind Koenma. The silence was beginning to eat at Yusuke – he wanted to know what was going on, and what they were going to do with the deemed 'dead' girl within the ice that was now obviously not human.

"So. What's the verdict?" Yusuke spoke, his gaze falling upon the frozen figure within the ice pillar as Koenma shuffled around, looking at the being within the ice from all angles.

"Verdict of what?" Koenma demanded, though he didn't look away from the girl within the ice.

"What're we gonna do? Kill her now?" Yusuke asked bitterly, however, his stab at Koenma wasn't met with any reply whatsoever. He frowned, looking at Koenma with irritation written over his face.

"I don't know." Koenma answered, and, as Yusuke decided to place his glare elsewhere, he noticed that Hiei was in fact, gone. He blinked, looking around for the fire apparition, though he spotted no sign of the brooding being that had been silent for most of the time. Kurama was standing just to Yusuke's right, a dark look slowly crossing the Kitsune's face as Yusuke looked at him. Yusuke blinked in shock – it had been a very long time since he had seen _that _look across the Kitsune's face, and, he wasn't accustomed to it, Yusuke blocked out a shiver as he looked back at Koenma. Yusuke's frown slowly crept back onto his face as Koenma just seemed to stare at the almost pixie girl within the ice.

"What are we doing?" Yusuke asked again, and, he almost flinched back in shock as Koenma suddenly rounded on him, the most venomous look across the spirit world rulers face he had ever seen.

"I already told you! _I don't know!" _Koenma snapped, and, Yusuke was shocked into silence once again over the month. Koenma let out a frustrated breath, and, as he turned back to the pillar of ice, Yusuke bit down on his lip as he forced himself to silence. It definitely seemed that Koenma had far more of a temper than Hiei at the moment, it would do him well to drill that into his head before he said something stupid and actually got punished for his stupidity.

"Veiku, I believe." Came Kurama's voice, and, Yusuke blinked in shock as he looked to the Kitsune.

"Veiku hold no power over mirrors, nor the domain beyond, Kurama." Koenma's weary voice came, and, Yusuke looked to the spirit world ruler in shock. He hadn't heard any question spoken at all, what were they talking about?

"I'm well aware of that." Kurama spoke, and, Yusuke felt that cold, almost fearing sensation overcome him as he saw that dark look over Kurama's face turn almost murderous. "She has the scent of a Veiku however, this whole area has the scent of Veiku about it."

"The blood has the scent of Veiku, not her." Koenma spoke, and, Yusuke saw the toddler ruler look towards Kurama after a moment. "Believe me, Veiku was the very first thing we tested her for."

"Dormant blood never holds anything more than human." Kurama commented with almost a snap, and, Yusuke watched the Kitsune in pure confusion, and, the fearful sensations didn't lessen.

"Kurama. It sounds like Hiei is more accepting of the situation than you." Koenma's voice spoke, and Yusuke was suddenly flawed at that statement. "We take a blood sample from her every time she comes to spirit world, and every time, it's come up with every sign pointing _away _from Veiku. There's no possible chance that she _is _a Veiku."

"Then explain her form." Kurama insisted, and Yusuke could only stare as the kitsune seemed to exhibit that expression of defiance and pure, nearly sarcastic cynical attitude that Hiei would usually exhibit, when he was his old self. Now, it seemed that Hiei had become far more silent, and almost, mellow, for lack of a more appropriate word, and, Kurama was more bitter and cynical. Yusuke knew Kurama had been far from happy since the disappearance, but never had he known the Kitsune was this unhappy. But wait ... what was a Veiku? Yusuke hadn't even heard of one before.

"Wait a second." Yusuke cut in, barely a few seconds after Kurama's statement, earning a sharp look from Koenma as Kurama merely stood silent, waiting for his comment from Kurama that Yusuke was certain was not coming. "What's a Veiku? That some kind of voodoo potion?" Yusuke felt a frown cross his face as he saw Koenma stare at him for several moments with the same deadpan look that Kuwabara often wore as his usual expression.

"Veiku are a race of, well, a kind of pixie race." Koenma began to explain, shaking his head to try and force that deadpan look from his face. "They are ... a dangerous group of beings. Let's just put it that way."

"What? They eat peoples dreams and leave them with blank memories or-"

"They devour the souls and flesh of human newborns and slaughter children to be exact." Came the voice of Hiei, so suddenly that Yusuke literally jumped, wheeling around to see the fire apparition approaching from the far right, his jagan hidden once again beneath his bandanna.

"How so?" Yusuke asked, and, he saw Koenma let out a breath in exasperation.

"Think of them as the invisible friends that children have, though they act closely to the sirens from the old myths." Koenma commented, his gaze falling upon Hiei after a few moments. "I assume you located her?" Yusuke blinked in shock, though he had expected that Hiei had left for a specific reason.

"Hn. The Baka Onna demands payment." Hiei commented with venom, causing Yusuke's shock to subside slightly. Now he was starting to sould like the Hiei he was more used to.

"Great." Koenma spoke sarcastically, beginning to rummage through his pockets for something. Yusuke remained silent as he watched, the ticking in the back of his mind echoing louder than the ticking of an old grandfather clock.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Yusuke asked, and, before he even comprehended what he had just asked, Koenma looked at him with such venom that Yusuke started to fear that his life was in danger.

"_For the last time, Yusuke! I don't know yet!" _Koenma snapped, his brown eyes almost seeming to glow red to the spirit detective, and he was feeling more scared of the spirit world ruler than he could ever recall being scared of Hiei. He felt Hiei glance at him with a frown after he thought that thought.

"First of all, we should relocate her body." Kurama spoke, dragging Yusuke's attention from the fuming spirit world ruler effectively, he looked at the Kitsune with a less startled expression across his face. "It won't do any good to figure out what to do with her here."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Koenma spoke, sighing as he pulled out a pocket watch, and, he looked at Hiei after a moment. "I assume she didn't object to the job?" There was no reply from Hiei, the fire apparition just remained silent, his brooding gaze shifting from Koenma, to the girl within the ice, then to Kurama. Yusuke frowned as he felt more than definite that he was the one person that had little to no idea as to what was going on.

"Job for what?" Yusuke asked, though, there was no answer as Koenma stepped to the ice, and, as Yusuke began to glare at his lack of answer, the spirit world ruler placed his hand to the ice. "Hello?"

"Shut up, Yusuke." Koenma growled, closing his eyes slowly. The ice slowly seemed to glow white, slowly growing brighter, until the red in the ice was nothing but a pale pink tinge to the frozen liquid. Yusuke watched with a glowering feeling overcoming him as the ice suddenly shattered, allowing the frozen form that was chains and Meia to fall to the blood-covered snow. Koenma opened his eyes, looking down at the tiny form as the chiming sounds of the ice fell entirely, and, the full extent of the damage to the girl's dead body was visible. She wasn't frozen solid like Koenma had thought she would be, her body still had some movement, though her form was limp from death. Free from decay, Koenma could tell that the ice had kept her body so well frozen that it was just like the girl had been dead for no longer than a minute, though he couldn't be sure about how long she had really been dead. A day, maybe two or three. Or maybe she had been dead since she was taken through the mirror. It didn't matter. He was sure that it was a day at minimum.

"Shes ... not frozen." Came Kurama's voice, and Yusuke looked at Koenma from Meia as he crouched down over the girl.

"No, she's not even cold." Koenma spoke, a hint of confusion in the spirit world ruler's voice. Yusuke blinked in confusion, and, as he saw Koenma straighten up, he saw the spirit world ruler look at Hiei again. It seemed there was a lot that Hiei knew that he didn't, and it was beginning to royally piss him off. Silence rung for several moments, an eerie silence that outlined the desolate place that they were all standing in. "I'll need you to take her out there." Koenma spoke, his voice hushed down a few tones than Yusuke thought was required. There was silence, and Yusuke guessed, the spirit world ruler must have been speaking to Hiei. Yusuke looked to Hiei after a moment as silence rung, and, he saw a blank look across Hiei's face. No glare, no condescending expression, no nothing. Yusuke stared at the motionless Hiei as he seemed to glance up at the edge of the pit, and, before Yusuke could even blink, Hiei was immediately looking back to Koenma, no sign of even looking away was there at all, and Yusuke was in pure confusion. What was going on?

"Hn." Hiei's voice came, though the hint of annoyance that was usually in anything that Hiei spoke was nonexistent. Yusuke blinked in shock as Hiei then disappeared, and, within an instance, Meia's body was also gone. Koenma let out a breath in exasperation, standing up straight after several moments to look at Yusuke and Kurama. The tiniest hint of light reflecting from the edge of the pit caught Yusuke's gaze, and, he looked over at where the tiniest reflection was, to see nothing in particular. He blinked, catching sight of another hint of reflecting light, at the wrong angle for the sun to be merely reflecting from a sheet of ice along the edge of the pit.

"Well, I believe that's all that we need from here." Koenma spoke, efficiently snatching Yusuke's gaze from the edge of the pit immediately. "I'll inform you of the young girl's survival when we know what's wrong with her."

"What?" Yusuke said, pure confusion taking over him as he stared at Koenma. What was going on?

"I'll send Botan over when another assignment arises." Koenma spoke, and, Yusuke stared at that strangely business like expression across Koenma's face. "Until then, you're free to do as you please." Yusuke stared, a dumbfounded look across his face as Kurama merely turned and began to head off towards the portal hanging in the air.

"Come, Yusuke. I believe Kuwabara is in need of someone to help with his assignment." Came Kurama's voice, and Yusuke threw a look of annoyance at Koenma before he reluctantly began to follow.

Silence rung throughout the area as the two stepped through the portal, and Koenma watched for several moments, before letting out a breath. His brown eyes shifted from the portal that was still swirling in the air several meters away, to the edge of the pit, up on the very top. A glare crept up onto his face as the tiniest hints of beings rose up from the snow, clad in the robes of Spirit World's special forces. Four beings rose from the snow, light reflecting from the armor that the beings wore over their shoulders. There wasn't too much to miss, Koenma knew why they were there.

With one last glare over towards the spirit world special force soldiers, he turned, and, left through the swirling portal of his own making.


	43. Crimson Keepers Corpse

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY THREE: Crimson Keepers Corpse**_

The pouring rain fell relentlessly, drowning the lands below in a thick blanket of water that made sight and hearing very difficult. With the howling winds, the water lashed more at the eyes than the ground below, and it made trecking through the thick underbrush of the forest very, very difficult. Nightfall was on it's way, there was little light within the lands, and as footsteps trudged through the forest, an almost deafening crash of thunder lit up the skies above the tree canopy. Blinding light that lit up the very corners of the underbrush, and made navigating, if just for a moment, as pleasant as if traveling by morning light.

Yusuke stepped through the forest, his eyes tracing the skies above as he hoisted the bag of assorted items higher over his shoulder. His brown eyes traced the way the clouds circled, trying to pick what the strange weather was going to do next. It looked like it was beginning to turn into a hurricane for some reason – it shouldn't be turning into a hurricane, it was out of season, especially for the Makai. He let out a breath as he placed his gaze back onto the ground in front of his feet, focusing on not falling flat on his face again – he was already running late cause the contents of the bag he was carrying was ruined, and he had to double back to go grab more. He hoped, that Koenma had a very good reason for making him go out to the oceans to the south of the Continent to hunt down Seaweed, he'd have rathered any other job, he didn't like the smell of seaweed drying in the least.

Stepping left around a huge tree that was in the middle of flowering, the tiniest hints of a portal met his gaze, the swirling purple mass of energy that he was used to traveling between worlds through had him smile in relief – twelve hours walking backwards and forwards for seaweed was the last thing he wanted to do, and he ignored the fact that it would have been a six hour trip if he had just watched his footing. Though why Koenma insisted on putting the portal out here was beyond Yusuke's comprehension. And what was with suddenly acting as if Meia was some random demon they found in the middle of the wasteland? It was almost as if Koenma was Bipolar or something.

The turbulence of the portal was just like normal, unlike before where it had been more turbulent than normal, and he felt his feet suddenly sink into something ice cold. A yelp escaped his lips as he stumbled backwards through the portal again, his wide eyes noticing the transition before he had even taken a breath. With one last moment of mobility, he swung the bag he had over his shoulder again, where he felt it hit him hard in the chest, and he hit the ground of the forest floor hard. All the breath within his lungs left him in the one instance, leaving him momentarily dazed, his eyes shut tight against the shock of the fall.

"Damn, that hurt." Yusuke complained, opening his eyes to look up at the tree canopy above his head. "Didn't I just walk through that portal?" He wondered out loud, and, with a frown crossing his face, he looked towards his feet, to see the swirling mass of purple that was the portal. "Damn it! What's wrong with me?" A glare crossed his face as he realised he had just had a clumsy accident, just like Kuwabara usually did. Though, he was glad that he actually managed to save the bag of seaweed, which was clutched in both of his arms. "Okay, let's try this again!" He spoke, dragging himself to his feet. Taking proper care this time, he dragged himself back to his feet and approached the portal, this time bracing himself for the cold water that he had found on the other side.

Once again, stepping through the portal had him find something rather cold and disgusting meet his feet. Though this time he was prepared, he still jumped at the sensation. He found himself standing in the middle of a swamp, the tiniest hints of rain about was the less stagnant air than that of a rotting graveyard. He immediately sprung towards the dry ground, his gaze going to the path ahead of him as he tried to spot where exactly he was going. Stepping towards the swamp brush ahead of him, his gaze zeroed in on a strange building within the cluster of swamp brush that looked more menacing than the man-eating-plants he had seen on video games at home.

Walking towards the strange building within the swamp, his skin began to crawl at the scent of heavily perfumed, burning flesh that was eminating from the strange chimney that stood high within the lands. He didn't need to be able to see anything much to be able to feel his stomach churning at the approaching knowledge that this place was one of those places that the stereotypical 'witch' lived in. He could already see the image of voodoo dolls and Llama fetuses hanging around the place, and the image almost made him gag. Though it explained why the hell he was sent to go get Seaweed. It was likely for some kind of witch craft that required potions and rituals – the creepy kind. Yusuke didn't fancy having a hex placed upon him, so he picked up the pace – considering how much Koenma seemed to be gambling with in bringing Meia back, he most certainly didn't doubt the toddler ruler to go and try a bout of witchery to try and fix things.

Stepping within the complex of the strange building, Yusuke was about to turn back around and leave. His expectence and what he got were two completely different things. Caskets and coffins covered the grounds, draped in old bandages and skeletal bones. Many bones, the bodies of many huge demons, and he was immediately beginning to wonder what Koenma had gotten them into. The scent of rotting corpses filled the air, and it was strong enough to make Yusuke almost throw up. Even the salty, slimy scent of rotting seaweed was so much better than this place. The faint sounds of voices within the back parts of the strange place dragged Yusuke's immediate attention from the rolling of his churning stomach, and he found himself almost sprinting forward to just deliver the seaweed and just leave this place.

Yusuke's ears lead him into a wide, open clearing that hung heavy with the scent of sandalwood, orange and lavender – a scent that was heavily laced with some kind of herbal remedy. The scent was so thick that it blocked out the scent of rotting corpses, though it began to make it more difficult to breathe. The path that he was standing upon lead through the clearing, into a room that was blocked off by what looked to be some kind of strange, sickly tree. He could see past it though, and he could see the familiar sight of Koenma in his teenager form standing within the room. Maybe in the room where Koenma was, he wouldn't have as hard a time breathing, he hoped, however, he very much doubted that it would be the case.

"I don't care how much work it's going to take, just revive her." Koenma spoke, his left foot tapping against the ground in impatience. Yusuke rolled his eyes as he walked over to the toddler ruler, focusing hard on actually getting enough oxygen into his lungs.

"Don't be insulting! I'm not complaining about the work, you insolent brat!" A shrill, high-pitched voice echoed loudly, sending shivers down Yusuke's spine like nails down a blackboard. He didn't spend a moment longer, dumping the huge sack of seaweed on the stone table just next to Koenma as he looked at the toddler ruler.

"There's your damned bag of seaweed. Can I go home yet?" Yusuke interrupted, and, he felt both Koenma and another pair of eyes glare at him. He frowned, turning to look at who Koenma was arguing with. A short, wrinkly being stood just a few meters away, standing at three feet tall, long white hair covering most of their form like an old, rough shawl that hadn't been washed in years. Small, beady eyes the colour of ochr held glares of death, and the small little olive green Ukata didn't hide the masses of wrinkles that were up the beings limbs. The being was clearly female, though Yusuke had to bite his tongue before he actually asked how old this woman was – it was clear she was over two hundred years old, she was wrinkly like a prune. The putrid smell of old people filtered through the air, a mix of month old lavender and mothballs, and it was beginning to make Yusuke sick.

"Is this another one of your useless buffoons?" The woman seethed, placing her beady eyes back upon Koenma.

"Are you going to take the job or not?" Koenma demaned, and Yusuke looked at the toddler ruler with a look of shock across his face. He hadn't heard that tone from Koenma before. The toddler ruler was glaring daggers at the old woman, and upon a glance back at the woman, she was glaring daggers straight back.

"I already told you, it's not a matter of work!"

"The what _are _you complaining about, Dante?" Koenma spat, causing Yusuke to blink. He thought Dante was a guys name in Europe? Obviously not.

"Look, it's not my fault I need someone with half a brain to help! I'm old, and I'm not that fast in my work anymore!" Dante spoke, her brown eyes almost seeming to glow a deathly red.

"Then what?" Koenma spat.

"Either find me an accomplished telepath, or I won't do the job!" Yusuke blinked as Koenma almost seemed to glare daggers straight back at the old woman.

"Fine, twenty million yen! I don't-"

"It's not a matter of how much you pay me either!" Dante almost shouted, and Yusuke crossed his arms in impatience. "It's nearly impossible to do when the subject's been dead for over a month! I need someone to actually go and find her and keep her stuck in place! I can't stick her soul to her foot now, can I?" Yusuke blinked in shock – Meia had only been gone for two weeks at most, not a month!

"Hold on, Grandma!" Yusuke spoke, his frown growing more intense as he saw the eyeballing Dante look at him as if she had laid eyes on someone that had just called her a disgusting old hag. "She's only been missing for a week or two, how can-"

"I don't care about the details! The souls been detached for months, and that's all I need to know!" Yusuke bit down on his retort as he felt his eye twitch – this woman was more trouble than she was worth, at least, in Yusuke's point of view. There was probably more pleasant necromancers around somewhere in the Human world, but, why was Koenma dealing with a necromancer anyway? Couldn't he just fix her himself? He scowled at himself at that thought. Now he was thinking of her as a broken toy that was being taken to a hideously overpriced repair shop.

"Can't you just get Hiei to help then? Just get it over and done with!" Yusuke commented, and he felt a glare hit his back almost immediately. He just wanted to be rid of the old bat called Dante.

"Would _you _like to sew the soul in place? If you would, then be my guest! I'm not taking the blame for creating something not normal!" Dante chattered away, her gaze snapping from the sight of Yusuke, to the far right, where Yusuke noticed a door lead to another room.

"Then why don't you get off your scrawny ass and do something!" Yusuke snapped, glaring daggers at Dante again as she looked like he had just kicked her in the face.

"Wha—SCRAWNY!" Dante shrieked, and the sounds of nails down a blackboard echoed through the room once again. "_HOW DARE YOU? Don't you know who I am?"_

"Nope. Don't care." Yusuke commented, smirking as Dante seemed to almost lose all ability to speak.

"Yusuke, please!" Koenma spoke, exasperation in his voice as he looked back to Dante. "Listen, Dante, we don't have very much time. Hiei can help you with whatever you need, just get it done." Yusuke blinked as he listened, looking over in the direction he sensed something like a psychic dagger coming from, to see a certain fire apparition sitting against the mostly-dead tree, and it looked like the said fire apparition was livid at that moment.

"You'd better not be making me deal with some human fool." Dante spat, and, Yusuke frowned intensely. He was glad Kuwabara was still at the house, then. It sounded like this woman hated humans more than Hiei did, which made him wonder, was she _not _human? Or just hypocritical? The sounds of Hiei getting to his feet echoed as Dante seemed to storm over towards that room that she had glanced at once or twice, and Yusuke was trying _very _hard not to say something stupid. If it wasn't for the fact that the woman was bringing back Meia from the dead, then he would have quite simply spoken his mind.

"I hope I'm not making a mistake with this..." Koenma spoke, his eyes upon Dante's disappearing back as Yusuke merely rolled his eyes. _Now _he decides dealing with some self richeous old bat was probably a mistake. That just made his day. Hiei walked past bitterly, his more familiar glare of death plastered across his face as he walked, and Yusuke couldn't stop himself from sniggering at the fact that Hiei was going to be stuck alone in a room with Dante in old hag mode. He felt another glare of death smack him straight across the face, but rather than recoiling from the now mad fire apparition, he just burst out into laughter.

The wind slapped relentlessly against the walls of the house as Kuwabara remained silent, his gaze upon the ceiling of his room as he waited for some sign of the guys to come back. It was eleven at night, he had expected them back by lunch time the latest, after all they were only escorting Yukina back home, there wasn't really anything that could have happened, at least, as far as he could think. Not even Kurama had been back. He had expected Hiei to not return, but he didn't think Yusuke or Kurama would be out for so long. He let out a breath as he rolled onto his stomach, resting his head upon his arms crossed over his pillow. Many paper cuts were over his hands, the most painful little cuts he had ever experienced, and he had more than fifty of them on one hand. Why did such little cuts hurt so much? Was it the disappointment of no result of his hard days work? Or was it just that the little things got to him more now than they ever did?

His legs ached from many, many hours of walking all over town, posting fliers onto building wall, lamppost, and even the odd one on the trees in parks. He had managed to put the pile of eight hundred fliers out onto the town, and he hadn't received one call, or even some shred of hope of Meia's return. He was really beginning to feel alone. Not even Shizuru, his sister, was anywhere to be found. Not that there was any need to do anything, he knew in his head that it would take more than four hours for someone to send him some sign of Meia's location, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling so disappointed.

A sudden crash of thunder distracted the human's train of thought for no more than a moment, just long enough for him to take note of the rain that was beginning to fall down onto the roof of the house. He let out a grunt of irritation after several moments of continuing thoughts, kicking the foot of his bed in agitation, and, rolling onto his side, he forced himself to try and go to sleep – if the guys weren't going to be home, then there was nothing he could do. It just meant he would feel more lonely than without Yukina, or Meia around.

A loud knocking dragged the tiniest hints of annoyance from Kuwabara, and he dragged himself to his feet to go and answer the door – it wasn't anyone that lived in the house, they would have just walked in. He began to wonder who it was, and what they wanted. It wasn't like anyone ever came to see _him. _


	44. Chained Embrace

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY FOUR: Chained Embrace**_

The seeping colour of blood stained the ground he walked, colouring the ground in the sickening colour evenly throughout this place. The faint howling of voices echoed throughout the area, and nothing aside from the thick mist hovering over the ground stood around him. There was no breeze, the air was stagnent with the scent of metalic water, and the scent of rust was just faintly in the air. There was no sign of life, no sign of anything that could point him towards where he was supposed to go, so only gut instinct could ever hope to aid him here.

Hiei's eyes traced the chains that ran throughout the whole expanse of the place that was the furtherest from any inner world he had ever seen in his life. Though he didn't tend to go looking into places he didn't need to see, he had seen a fair few inner worlds, and they were a little more like reality than what he was looking at. The chains, all corroded and rusted, had lines of coagulated blood trailing up towards the sky like reverse gravity, where three suns hung in a triangle, matching the colour of blood perfectly. The mist flowed like a fast moving cloud, an eerie feel to the already strange atmosphere. Pillars of glass, mirrors stood throughout the mess of chains and coagulated blood, throwing many reflections through the area, sending the illusion of many more chains through the area. The air was ice cold, in comparison to the warm appearing sky, and he found himself wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into. The faintest sounds of voices echoed throughout the desolate world, eerie voices that were filled with pain and agony, and it didn't help in trying to locate where he was in the least.

His footsteps took him to the understanding that there was no real ground here either, just like the way he came, he was walking on glass, he could feel it beneath his feet, and unlike the patch of glass he had walked on before, the glass was slowly becoming thinner, and thinner. He understood that his job was to keep the girl somewhat stable when Dante took to starting the purge, however, he hadn't expected that her inner world would be that difficult to get to – it took direct contact for him to actually trace the tiniest hints of her mind and soul within her body – he hoped that the spirit detective didn't decide to wander in to see what was going on – he didn't need Yusuke to see him with his forehead to Meia's like he had been.

His footsteps descended downwards, his gaze falling upon a body of water just before his foot touched the waters surface, where he stopped himself from taking that step at the last moment. The chains were more dense through this part, and another glance at the body of water had him notice that the liquid was not a clear blue like normal. A tinge of red touched the water, and it didn't take too long for him to realise why that was – the coagulated blood was thick, and the water was stained the same colour. Though he wondered why that was, really. Even his own inner world wasn't this chaotic and stained with blood, and he had murdered many more people than this girl had even spoken to. The body of water extended for many many meters, extending almost out of view, and, Hiei's gaze traced the whole body of water ahead. He had been walking forever, he knew he was somewhere in the middle of the world, so why couldn't he find her? He looked back down at the water at his feet suspiciously for a few moments, before he reluctantly stepped into the body of water to continue onwards.

His foot touched the water, and searing pain suddenly ran straight through his whole body from the place of contact, but then, it was suddenly as if the pain had never appeared in the first place. He looked down at the body of water, studying the colour as he thought quickly on what the heck that was – he didn't ever recall in any of his looking in on peoples inner worlds, coming across water that infliccted psychological pain – he knew it was psychological, the water hadn't even soaked his boot yet. Coming to a suitable conclusion, he decided to test the waters again, litterally, and, he touched his fingertips to the waters surface, though the pain at this moment of contact was nothing more than a dull buzzing pain, like the background headache while one focused on accomplishing something. Definitely psychological pain. He reluctantly straightened up, taking one moment to curse his luck as he stepped into the water once again. Greeted with the same dull buzzing pain, he placed his attention on figuring out where Meia was.

His gaze fell upon something in the middle of the body of water, the chains circled the very centre like a cage, and his attention was suitably captured – there had to be something there at least. He waded through the water and blood carefully, the body of liquid coming no higher than waist height, which was beneficial at least. His gaze traced the way the chains hung as he came within mere meters of the mass of chains, and he could see the tiniest hints of an island within the centre of the chain wall. Being made to go help with Meia's resurection was beginning to become less of an irritation, he was beginning to forget about it the longer he was exploring this bazzar inner world.

He stepped through the gaps within the wall of chains carefully, being especially careful not to touch any of the chains – he wasn't sure if they were mere chains, or something else, his senses weren't working within this world very well, if at all. His gaze shifted to what he had guessed was an island, his gaze tracing the area around him as the little amount of light in the room was slowly cut off by the closing chain wall. He didn't place too much thought to it, wading through the water towards the island as his gaze fell upon a tree that wasn't made of the standard flesh living trees were made of. Before him stood a huge tree made of what looked to be Onyx, though the tree was more transparrant than it should have been if it _were _made of the stone. Light seemed to filter through the room from the leaves of the black tree, casting an eerie green limelight throughout the area as the chains curled around, cutting off the sky above like the ceiling of a cavern. His crimson eyes traced the sight of chains running up the trunk of the strange tree like snakes, and, it was then that he noticed the presence of another other than himself.

Hiei stepped around the tree to the side where the form of Meia hung, her weight supported by the chains that bound her to the trunk of the tree tightly. Her long turquoise hair was stained the same red that her body's hair was, and she was covered in more injuries than her corporeal body had. To add to the curiosity of her appearance, she was just the same as she had been, form wise, before she was engulfed through the mirror – the scars around her neck were still there. His gaze traced the chains that bound her almost inhumanely, and, his gaze then fell upon her face. Her expression wasn't empty like her bodie's face, he could see nothing but torment, the pure agony of near years of torture, and he began to wonder why that was. He was in her inner world, he had never seen an inner world within an inner world, perhaps, he had stumbled upon her inner nightmare more than her inner world? That would make more sense considering the chains and blood that lined the world like wool to a sheep.

Before he had a moment to think, the wall of chains that surrounded the little island suddenly fell apart, a deafening chaos of metal as his gaze snapped to the wall to spot what exactly was going on. His gaze snapped straight back to Meia as the snapping of more chains echoed throughout the area, and, it didn't take more than a moment for him to realise that Dante was beginning the purge. The chains that bound her to the tree began to grow tighter and tighter, noticeably, and Hiei blinked as he heard the sounds of snapping bones. It was visibly her arms, her lower arm hung downwards in an almost painful manner, bending in the wrong place for it to just be her elbow bending. He reached out to grab the chains, to try and melt them into snapping, to release her, but his hand got no closer than an inch, before the chains and the girl completely vanished. His eyes widened in shock, and, as he looked at the tree properly, there was no sign of her in the least.

"Why are you doing this?" Came a faint, young voice to Hiei's far right, causing him to snap his gaze over immediately – he hadn't heard or sensed anything in the least! His gaze fell upon a little girl that stood no higher than two feet tall, her long, turquoise hair pulled back by a blood red ribbon, which extended down over her shoulders. Those turquoise eyes the six year old girl had were exactly like Meia's, and as he studied her for no more than half a second, he already guessed that remnants were part and parcel of this inner world.

"What is it to you?" Hiei spoke, watching the little girl as she crossed her arms behind her back, smiling sheepishly as she straightened up – it was then that Hiei spotted the bloody handprints of someone having previously attempted to throttle the child, over her neck, and cuts ran along the same place as the scars along Meia's neck.

"We want to stay!" She spoke, tilting her head to the right as Hiei's eyes narrowed upon the remnant.

"Hn, and take her life with you." Hiei commented, which seemed to cause the little girl displeasure, her smile faded from her face, to match the look that he last saw on the living Meia's face – sad understanding.

"We want to stay here, and sleep. Can't you see?" The girl spoke, and, while Hiei said nothing, her expression seemed to turn into the look that children wore when an adult saw straight through their ploy to avoid speaking a whole truth. A smashing sound echoed throughout the area, and, the glowing leaves of the crystaline tree fell around them, shattering against the ground upon contact. "You don't like nightmares either, right?" The girl spoke, and Hiei's eyes narrowed a little further as the girl then smiled sheepishly.

"Get to the point." Hiei spoke, his temper beginning to rise as the little remnant just continued to smile sheepishly.

"Let her sleep, we're going to die anyway." The girl spoke, and, as she blinked, a trail of blood trailed down the side of her face from the corner of her right eye. "You broke our seals by coming here, she's breaking our barriers by purging this synthetic world. You've no idea what you have done."

"The prattling of a remnant is of no consequence to me." Hiei spoke, a glare crossing his face as the remnant let out a breath wearily, and more blood trailed down her face. "Disappear, your existence is of no importance." The remnant closed her eyes after a few moments, her arms falling to her sides as she put most of her weight on her right foot, and more blood ran down her face. The air was thick, the shattering sounds of the tree leaves were thick with pressure, and it was slowly becoming difficult to breathe.

"Oh well, I tried." She spoke, and, she slowly looked up at Hiei again, but, her eyes were there no longer, black hollows remained where her turquoise eyes used to be. "You've only yourselves to blame for the troubles awaiting you on the other side." For just a moment, she seemed to glow a kind of red, then, almost in an instance, her whole form changed into the crimson fluids of the lake around, splattering against the ground of the little island. He eyed the place where the remnant had been, to the crystaline tree that _had _held Meia, or at least the presence of her in any case.

There was only the stump of the tree, more crystal continued to fall, shattering against the ground as he studied the oddity of the tree that now, was opened up to reveal a hollow big enough for him to walk through. That child remnant had said something about this world being synthetic, so, that would most definitely explain this place – this world wouldn't be the inner world of one's sub consciousness. But why was this a synthetic world, he wondered. His gaze traced the hollow, taking in the sight of the drop that was in front of him – it just plunged straight into darkness, so he couldn't be sure what he was doing. He looked around as the shattering of glass in the distance began to grow more intense, and, he looked down at that drop within the tree. He couldn't sense anything wrong with jumping down, so, he did.

His feet came in contact with ground far sooner than he had expected, and, as he looked back up to guage how far down he had dropped, he could see that the lip of the top where he had dropped from was no higher than two meters away. He'd be able to jump back up through there to get out again, he noticed. The ground here was strangely solid, in comparison to the rest of this world that he had been trudging through, so, using his powers to bring a ball of fire into his hand, he used it for light. His sight fell upon more chains, even down beneath the groound. They ran like veins along the walls and roof of the little passageway he had found himself in, and showed no real sign of thinning out. A wall was at his back, but it wasn't ... normal. The scent of blood was so thick within this passageway that it was almost nauseating, and he was quite used to the scent of blood with his line of work. His crimson eyes, as he followed the passageway through the chains, was trying to pick up some sign of Meia, and he didn't really like lingering within inner worlds as long as he had been – there were ways one could become trapped just by the way the world was structured – like, some unknowing spirit detective moving his body in the real world, and severing the connection, first of all.

The faint voices that he had been hearing since coming within this world were beginning to grow louder, the deeper into this place he went, and he wasn't all that unknowing about what he was going to find. The Remnant spoke of him breaking seals, touching the chained illusion of Meia must have been one of the seals, though a strange one at best, it was clearly the one that bound the entrance to this passageway shut. He spotted the entrance to a large, circular room up ahead, and he picked up speed as he realised there wasn't much time left to wander around warily.

Stepping out into the room, he came to a halt within a few large steps, his gaze narrowing upon the floor as he noticed a kind of huge circle was marked upon the floor. Many lines ran within the circle, deep lines that were traced with the chains that ran along the walls and ceiling. The sounds of shifting metal links echoed faintly, and Hiei's gaze traced the chains that lifted from the ground to the centre of the room, to where the chains gathered like they bound something in place. Bringing the flame in the palm of his hand to grow in size, the light in the room began to reveal what was in the centre of the room. Like a marionette suspended timelessly, a figure that was far smaller than himself hung from the many chains in a lifeless manner, arms bound to the figures sides, and, long, unkempt hair hung down further than their feet. The chains weren't just wrapped around the form, upon closer inspection, the chains actually cut deep into the figures flesh, to the point that their skin had healed over the top of the chains, sealing the chain beneath the skin. The colour of the ocean saturated the figure's hair, at least, where the dried blood did not, and, as he carefully stepped over the lines to take a closer look, he realised exactly what this room was.

This was a ritual room, and, she had been imprisoned in here _long_ before her disappearance.


	45. The Conductor Of Misfortunes Revival

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY FIVE: The Conductor Of Misfortune's Revival**_

The purge was taking place far faster than he had aniticipated, and he had no real recourse as to how to get the form down from the chains in time, let alone finding where her soul should be reattached, and taking her there. This world was just that different and confusing that he had no real idea on what to do. The form hanging from the chains was most definitely real, the heavy scent of fresh blood and pure, undiluted demon energy seeped into the air the closer the purge got, the demon energy that he had only caught the tiniest hints of during the tiny incident of the smashing mirrors back at the house. The form of Meia's inner self was crippled beyond belief, as he carefully stepped over the lines in the floor, he could see more and more of the damage that she had taken. Her whole form was lined with silver scars, thick scars that were noticeable from the firelight. He stepped over another line as he stepped closer to look at Meia's eyes.

He was careful not to step _on _the lines, this was a ritual room, and if he stepped on the line, broke it, then something he knew he didn't need would occur. Rituals were tempermental things, especially something like this, there was too much work put into this, and he couldn't pick exactly what the array was for.

The smashing of glass continued to grow louder and louder, and he took a quick look at all the chains around. Though they weren't obviously connected, he knew better than to just start breaking chains at random. True, the array wouldn't kick into motion suddenly just by breaking chains, that required to break one of the lines on the floor, but, by carelessly breaking one, considering that her flesh had healed _around_ the chains, it could tear flesh and worse from her in a chain reaction. He carefully took hold of one chain apparently not connected to her, and, as he tugged on it lightly, the chain that was embedded within her stomach pulled towards the ceiling, and, the skin that sealed it in place split from the metal slowly. Letting out a breath, he released the chain as he watched the blood run down her stomach, keeping tabs on how far away the purge was – only just at the hole leading down to the ritual room, not long to go.

Only one thing to do – he had to be _very _quick about this. Not that he really cared all that much about _her, _he just rathered not being imprisoned within another's consciousness. Just that sense of helplessness was enough to almost make him reconsider breaking her out of this imprisonment and just leave.

The shattering sounds of glass echoed within the room loudly, and as he looked back to see where the line was now, the sounds of moving chains began to come to notice. The chains beneath his feet began to move, bringing his gaze down towards the floor, and as the shattering sounds grew louder still, the clanging of metal actually overcame the shrill sounds of breaking glass. The chains were retracting into the ground, away from Meia's form within the centre of the room, and the faint sounds of cracking bones began to echo, highlighting the fact of time's inexistence. Taking hold of the closest chain, he forced his fire power into the chain, and, within a moment, the chain snapped clean from where he held it, and, the chain pulling at her stomach fell motionless, hanging loosely from the ceiling. Stepping quickly to snap the other chains, he glanced back at the entrance to see that the floor around the array was just suddenly missing, like it never existed in the first place. Pitch black was all that could be seen, and it didn't take too much convincing to get Hiei to quickly set into breaking those chains.

His grip closed around the last chain as he looked down at the array again, Meia's form hanging from the last chain by her right shoulder. The array was cracking away slowly, piece by piece, and, as the chain snapped in his hand, his free hand taking hold of the girl's arm, the floor just suddenly vanished beneath his feet.

The one thing that ran through his head at that moment? Many, _many _choice curse words. Was he too late? He wondered as he took hold of the unconscious girl properly, his gaze snapping from left to right as the sensation of falling overcame him, and, he was immediately certain that they were both falling. The sensations of blood running down his arm as he held her so he wouldn't accidentally drop her, and he frowned as he felt her breathing against the side of his neck. Scanning around for anything to grab hold of, to stop the descent was the only thing left, and as he looked around, the pitch black began to slowly fade away to reveal a deep blue that somewhat resembled the nighttime sky in the human world. A dull prodding in the back of his mind as the descent continued drew a venomous glare from Hiei, and as he readjusted his grip of the unconscious Meia, he heard the ear-splitting cackling of the old hag that was more trouble than she was worth.

"I see you found her!" Came Dante's voice in the back of his mind. "And here I was, expecting that I was going to have to drag your sorry ass back into your body." His right eye twitched in agitation, and as he closed his eyes slowly, he felt his agitation begin to grow in intensity as the sounds of Dante's cackling echoed again. Oh Koenma was going to pay for making him actually take part in bringing Meia back to life.

"Mind your tongue, witch." Hiei spoke, and, instead of an insulted tone coming his way, he just heard the woman burst out into cackling laughter.

"Alright, alright. You children are just so bitter these days!" Dante's screeching voice chattered, and Hiei felt a little more irritation overcome him. If he wasn't at her mercy right at that second, he'd either kill her, or just get the hell away from her and never think of the situation, ever, again. "Don't let go of her, otherwise you'll permanently ruin any chances for her resurection." Hiei pretended that he didn't hear the old hag in the least, and opened his eyes again. The space around him was exactly the same, empty, and he was still falling. He reluctantly looked down at Meia within his grip, and he felt the tiniest hint of curiosity as he looked down at her face. He vaguely recalled the girl looking like some kind of empty shell, no emotion across her face whatsoever, and as he was looking at her right at that second, she looked ... peaceful, if that was what one could call it. He frowned after a few moments, reluctantly taking proper grip of the girl as he looked around at the area below him. He couldn't quite understand why there was nothing around, and they had been falling forever.

"Ah, sorry, kid, but you're on your own now! Don't let go!" Came Dante's voice suddenly.

"What?" Hiei demanded, but all he heard was the cackling laughter belonging to Dante.

"Hope you can hold your breath!" Dante's voice cackled once again, and Hiei glared at the empty space in front of him. Before he could so much as start his demand of answers from Dante, he suddenly hit something that resembled water, and, instead of hitting feet first, he was startled when he hit head first. No words could do his pure irritation justice as he heard Dante's cackling voice echo throughout his head, and he had to try hard to _not _let go of Meia at that moment. He was determined to never, ever, have anything more to do with Necromancers ever again. Well, maybe any Necromancer called Dante, first of all.

Keeping his grip of Meia was proving a lot more difficult than he was willing to admit, as they sunk, and he had no choice but to drag the girl into an embrace. Oh he was so glad that, number one, the girl was unconscious, and number two, he was not doing this in real life. But this strange watery hell was reinforcing one thing, and one thing only. He was going to have to torture Dante as soon as he was free of this confounded predicament that he had found himself in. Or at least torture Yusuke for suggesting his help with this confounded revival, and Koenma for going along with it. He at least had a little heart to not take it out on Meia, he pretty much knew it would be cruel to take his temper out on her at this point.

He did as he was told, held his breath, though the hag's warning was childish and deserved blood to be spilt. Though he didn't have a descent breath to hold, he was managing, and, as he opened his eyes again, he could see something other than the deep blue of nothingness. The space around him was grey, colourless, like the tiniest hints of sunlight through the fog of a winters morning. The chains that were still embedded within Meia's soul body were knocking around his knees, a sinister reminder of the way he had found the girl imprisoned. Barbarak, and not only that, it was also proof of something cruel and monstrous lurking behind the veil of that brattish, energetic girl that had so much in common with Yusuke it made Hiei himself wonder if there were such a thing as psychological siblings. He had guessed there was something by how desperately Koenma was trying to bring Meia back, why he was so desperately to keep her out of harms reach. Koenma knew something, and for all his glimpses into the toddler rulers thoughts, he could never locate anything that would signify why that was.

"You can let out that breath now!" Dante's voice chattered away, and Hiei begrudgingly listened to the old hag. One more joke, just one more – he'd have to make her die a horrible and painful death. The greys of the strange watery substance had long since faded, though Hiei had been too far into thought to really notice, and, in place of the liquid grey, was the long, broad expanse of water, the ocean. He blinked, looking around as he took in the sight of the strange world before him. It was, normal at least, and he was finding himself a little confused as he felt his feet touch the sandy ground that matched the world he was looking at. The grey skies of night was above him, and he couldn't see anything that remotely resembled any form of inner world that he had ever seen. Moving from the ghastly blood and chain covered world to the completely normal looking world he was standing in, he was really beginning to wonder what was going on. Frowning slightly, he lifted Meia's soul body into his arms, and, ignoring the chains knocking against his knees, he turned to look at the area behind him.

He found that he was standing upon the edge of a little island, only about a kilometer wide. There were no actual trees, no signs of life at all, aside from one tall, broken down lighthouse standing upon the far side of the strange island, about five hundred meters tall. Tall forms of mirror in the shape of trees lined the inside of the island thickly, reflecting both sky and ocean. There was one thing that stuck out like the other world, and it didn't take him more than a few seconds to spot it. The ground beneath the mirror trees was covered in chains, like the thick ground foliage of a kind of forest, the chains wound and crept along the forest like thick vines. Though the vines in any real world didn't appear to move, the chains he could see were moving, creeping along eerily along the ground. Taking better grip of the girl, he pushed aside the eerie sight of the moving chains from his mind and stepped down a thin path through the mirror forest that wasn't covered with the moving chains. His thoughts about the world not resembling the oddity of an inner world had come back to bite him, and, he rolled his eyes as he pointed this out to himself.

Walking through the forest of mirrors was disorientating to say the least. The deeper he walked in, the more the mirror trees just reflected the image of him over and over again, to the point where he just watched where the path went to keep his bearings. He assumed, the way to go, to find the centre of this strange world was down the path into the centre of the island, and, the further he went, the more sure that he was lost, he was. He couldn't use his Jagan, the place was far too disorientating for him to do that, and he wasn't able to really use his main abilities here anyway. There was no point, he just had to do his best in keeping track of where he was by calculation, and following the thin path, just like he did in that strange world.

The trail took him through to the outskirts of a lake within the middle of the forest of mirrors, though the lake blended in so well with the forest that he almost didn't notice it. Coming to a halt just at the edge of the lake, standing upon the path he had been following, he came to the conclusion that he was standing as close to the centre of the island as he could get. The lake didn't resemble any form of normal water, like the ocean surrounding the ocean, however, the water resembled something of a liquid mirror, reflecting both the forest of mirrors, and the sky. This place was more than disorientating, Hiei was certain that if he could almost get lost in this place, then no human, or even any demon for that matter, could find their way around at all. Like the term that he had heard Yusuke use in reference to one of those confounded human inventions, The Lost Woods, this place was sure to trap the souls within for all of eternity unless they knew _exactly_ where they were going. This was as good a place as any, Hiei decided, as he carefully set Meia's soul body down on the ground next to the lake, being careful not to lose grip of her. He remembered Dante's warning about releasing Meia, and he wasn't certain that the warning was now null and void. Keeping an arm around her shoulders, he took to taking a proper look at Meia, now that he wasn't rushing breaking hundreds of chains before the Purge engulfed him and the girl at once.

Though the girl seemed out of it more or less, she was tense from pain. His gaze trailed from her face, down to the chains that hung from her form. The bloodied shreds of clothing hung loosely, the chains hanging from her body heavily, to the point where the skin was about to split around the edges of the chains. There were too many chains embedded within her body to really be able to remove them without dealing a _lot _of damage, in hindsight, it was the right thing to do by snapping the chains instead of removing them forcefully, though as he took in the brutality of the chains, he surmised that it would take many attempts to remove them, one by one, but he wasn't going to do that himself. If the Toddler Ruler wanted to go to the effort, then he could do that, Hiei wasn't going to have anything to do with it, he was certain of that. Though he didn't envy her in the least, he did actually feel sorry for the girl, however, he couldn't really think of a reason why. He had seen people in similar states before, and he didn't even think anything of it.

"You got her in place?" Came the chattering voice of Dante, snapping Hiei out of his thought midway through ascertaining how much damage Meia's soul had taken, causing him to glare with venom in his gaze.

"As good as any." He spoke bitterly, and he heard Dante cackle in laughter.

"Yes, yes, as good as any, eh?" Dante's voice cut through the back of his mind, and he resisted the desire to leave, right now and slit the woman's throat. "Three paces to the right!" Hiei chose to ignore Dante, and he heard the woman burst into her cackling laughter. "Alright, alright, I'll get started!" He really wanted to kill the old woman now.

"Make it quick." Hiei seethed.

"I'll take as long as I want!" Dante spoke, causing Hiei to bite down on a retort. He didn't exactly know how to get out of this world just yet. He looked back down at Meia as he wondered if the woman was actually doing anything. His gaze fell upon Meia's face as he noticed that her eyes were actually open, just a little, and his gaze narrowed as he watched her. Her eyes were empty, mostly, perhaps the side effect of the old hag's workings, until they were complete? The tiniest hint of black within the silver and blue forest snapped Hiei's gaze away from the crippled girl. Standing in amongst the chains around the base of the mirror trees on the opposite side of the lake was a black rabbit, it's white eyes staring out at Hiei without a shift in gaze.

His gaze darkened as he watched the creature as it remained motionless, it's eerie gaze staring out with the sense of bloodlust behind the glazed eyes. He remained motionless, despite Dante's sudden chatter of progress, watching the creature with the sense of foreboding.

Unlike the child within the artificial world before, this creature, was not a remnant.


	46. Moondance, The Symphony Of Insanity

Hey everyone that's still reading! Sorry for the wait, but I have another three chapters for you to read! Hope to hear some feedback from you guys! I'm hoping the story isn't going way too out there for most people to read, however, this is more of a dark fiction than most people are comfortable with, I realise that =)

Thank you to my new reviewer for your reviews! It's really awesome to know that there are still people reading! You get your wishes in the next four - seven chapters =)

* * *

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY SIX: Moondance, The Symphony Of Insanity**_

The scent of fire, strong and burning against the cool, salty sea breeze hung in the air, assaulting the senses of those willing enough to wander around in the mid-summers haze. The sounds of the ocean waves falling against the shore could be heard from all through the coast, a calming sound against the sunset light. The sounds of ocean birds cawing in the summer breeze as they searched for their meals echoed with a calming effect, a calm ocean setting, calm enough to send anyone to slumber if they were able. The sounds of laughter echoed faintly with the birds caws, the laughter of children, and as the scent of fire grew more intense, more children joined those running along the beach. The fire was a large fire in the centre of the village along the coast, a festival fire it seemed, for there were many forms dancing around the fire, many beings that resembled humans in each and every way. Music could be heard, violins and fiddles, a symphony of riverside music, the music that the people dancing around the fire had their beat to. Lanterns lit the roads around the village, light to guide those not at the festival yet, and, through the trees that lay beyond the village, rabbits hopped along the grounds quickly to escape the night time predators.

"Papa!" Came a chirpy, child's voice, excitement lacing the child's voice as a tiny form sprung out the front door. Sliding to a halt upon the front doorstep, the tiny form turned to face the front door again. Long, grey hair hung down to the ground, framing a pale face that was grinning back at the house. Though her eyes were closed with the volume of the huge grin, her grey eyes held nothing but excitement. Wearing a long sleeved black shirt with peach overalls, which came down to the knees, the girl looked like an overly energetic child waiting for her parents to step out of the house. "Hurry up, Papa! I wanna see the Moon Dance!" The little girl sung, springing down a step as footsteps could be heard from inside the house. A huge oak door held nothing from the girl's view, though the rest of the building hid the back parts of the forest from view. The house was a large one, almost looking like a mansion to most, the house was just build for a family of ten, rather a small family, like the rest of the village.

"Alright, alright, don't lecture me." Came a warm, fatherly voice from inside the building, and, the footsteps began to approach the door. The little girl giggled loudly, skipping down the last few steps before turning to look back at the house again.

"Look, Papa! They're starting!" The little girl sung, hopping up and down on the spot as she pointed over towards where the festival grounds were, and, she looked up at the house again from a glance over at the firelit village.

"I know, already." Came that warm voice again, and the girl giggled as the front door was shut gently. A tall, thin form stood at the door, leaning over the doorhandle as they locked the door behind them. Short, white hair framed the tanned face of the man, hinting at an older age than the voice sounded, though, as the man turned to the little girl, he looked to be the age of thirty. Topaz eyes took in the sight of the little girl hopping up and down on the spot as she fought the urge to just run ahead. He let out a breath as he scratched the back of his head with his right hand, watching the little girl as she fidgited. "Come on, you can't be _that _eager to see some group of women dancing." The man spoke, but, he couldn't help but grin as the girl giggled ecstatically.

"Please! Can we go! Can we? Can we?" The girl questioned, and the man called 'Papa' stepped forward down the steps to the one in front of the little girl. Crouching down to the girl's level, his grin remained upon his face as he looked down at the girl. His grin was only outmatched by the grin across the little girl's face, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Before the little girl could skip away, he grabbed her around the middle and lifted her up off the ground, holding her up with an arm beneath her legs as he began to walk onwards to the festival grounds. "Yay! We're going! We're going!"

"Umi, quit saying everything twice." 'Papa' spoke, attempting a stern voice, however, his attempt was in vain as the little girl called Umi giggled once again. "You're a tough one to discipline."

"What's dishipin? That edible?" The little girl questioned, and the man couldn't help but laugh.

"Forget I said anything." 'Papa' spoke, stepping down the path that lead to the festival grounds. The sounds of laughter and singing was loud through the evening air, lively and energizing, it wasn't hard to see why Umi was so energetic. Umi looked around the area as 'Papa' carried her onwards to the festival grounds, her grey eyes alight with the energy that buzzed around the land. Her skin was a pale grey, dirt covering most of her form as she rubbed at the tender skin around her wrists. She wasn't used to wearing long-sleeved shirts, so it irritated a little. The lanterns that lead the way through the forest were coloured different colours, going from greens, to blue, then to red and purple.

The festival grounds were alive with excitement, to the point that Umi couldn't hold still, her hands fidgiting, and she couldn't stop kicking her feet. The fire was burning so brightly, and she could see the dancers dancing loops around the fire gracefully. Managing to worm her way out of 'Papa's grip, her feet carried her over towards the barrier people that surrounded the fire. The sand beneath her feet felt funny, and as she looked around, she noticed the lucky-dip stand.

"Papa!" Umi squeaked, turning quickly to look back to the man. 'Papa' was standing just by the entrance of the festival grounds, his back to Umi, and, there were two strange men she had never seen before speaking with him, their faces stern and non-complying. Blinking in confusion, Umi began to skip over to 'Papa' to ask if she could go to the Lucky Dip stand. As soon as she could get her grip of her 'Papa's hand, she did, snatching the attention of her papa. "Papa! Can we go look over there?" She questioned immediately, and she saw 'Papa' smile. Her sleeves slipped down her arms slightly, revealing the thick metal shackles she had around her wrists, but she didn't notice, too intent on getting her Papa's attention.

"Of course." Papa replied immediately, and he looked to the two men he had been speaking with a moment before. Looks of horror covered both of the men's faces, though Umi couldn't seem to grasp the reason why. It was the Moon Festival! Why were they looking so upset like that? "My apologies, Edward, but I'd like to spend this evening with my Daughter, so, if you'll excuse me." Papa spoke, and without another word, he took proper hold of Umi's little hand, and let her drag him away from the two men. "Now where are we going, Umi?"

"I wanted to go look at the Lucky Dip stall!" Umi chirped, and Papa smiled slightly.

"Well, let's see what we get." Papa spoke, his slight smile still across his face as Umi giggled.

"Victor!" Came the loud voice of the man from before, and Umi looked up at Papa as he slowed to a halt. Her eyes stared up at his face as the smile faded from his face suddenly, and, the man called Edward came jogging over, that look of horror still written across his face. Umi looked from Papa, to the man called Edward, then to her Papa again, seeing her Papa look at the man called Edward with a dark look across his face.

"I already told you-"

"What is the meaning of this demon-child wanderi-" The man fell silent as Papa threw him a scathing look, and he blinked as Papa turned his back and crouched down in front of Umi. "Victor!"

"Umiko." Papa spoke, a stern tone to his voice, and Umi was both silent and motionless. That look across her Papa's face scared her, and she didn't know why. "I want you to go wait next to the gate to the beach, okay?" Umi blinked as the man called Edward went to speak, but Papa lifted a hand to silence him. "I won't be long." Umi nodded mechanically, and she blinked as Papa kissed her on the forehead gently before turning her around and pushing her forward gently. She only glanced back, before beginning to trudge forward to the gate to the beach, her gaze falling upon the ground as she noticed her sleeves weren't covering her wrists. Carefully pulling them back over her shackles, she let her feet take her to the little stone wall that was connected with the gate.

What could that man want with her Papa? She finally got to come out to a festival with her favorite person in the whole world, and these strange men that looked at her weird were stealing her Papa away from her. She let out a breath as she sat herself upon the rock wall next to the gate, staring out at the festival that seemed somehow far away at that moment. How long were those old men going to keep her papa away? She wasn't used to being out in the open. She was starting to get-

A sudden force struck her across the right side of her face, sending her plummeting off the wall and to the sandy floor below. The pain was the worst she had felt in a long time, so bad that she couldn't see for a few moments. Her eyes started to water as she lifted herself up off the sandy ground, her weak gaze spotting a few black spots of something liquid hit the white sand below her. Her breathing was shallow, and she hesitantly looked over her shoulder at the form that stood on the rock wall just where she had been sitting. A young boy, a few years older than her stood upon the wall, his eyes showing nothing but pure hatred – a hatred that was taught, and she felt fear begin to set in the pit of her stomach.

"What're you doing here, freak!" The boy demanded, and Umi managed to drag herself to her feet, ignoring the trailing of something cold down the side of her face.

"P-Papa brought me! I-I came to see the festival!" Umi spoke, her voice shaking as she saw the boy take a step closer to her, large wooden stick in his grip as one of the other children in the village came over to see what was going on.

"We don't want freaks like you! Get lost!" The boy spat, and Umi shrank back.

"I'm here with my papa!"

"_Onna!"_ Came a different voice as another force struck her in the back of the head hard. Her vision was black, her form lying against the sand of the festival grounds as the faint sounds of the festival cut in and out.

"Get out! Or we'll-" Came the voice of the boy, but she couldn't see anything.

"_Snap out of it, Onna!" _Came that voice again, but she didn't recognise them.

"Umiko!" Came the voice of her Papa, and, she managed to open her eyes as she felt hands suddenly lift her upright, warm hands that belonged to her Papa. "Umiko! Are you alright?" Papa demanded, panic in his voice as Umi looked up at him. Panic was written across his face, and as Umi managed to smile slightly up at him, another force struck her across the back of the head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Papa's voice shouted, and, all of a sudden, her body hit the ground hard.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at my son!" The voice of another man echoed, faintly though, and Umi's gaze slowly began to fade as she felt blood begin to run down the sides of her face quickly.

"_Wake up! Onna!" _Came that voice that she couldn't seem to identify, nor where the voice was coming from. Tapping against the side of her face slowly faded to nothing, the pain was beginning to dull down too. "_Onna! Wake up!" _

"Get that disgusting creature out of this place. And don't let me see her again, or I'll kill her myself!" Came the voice of that Edward person, and, ever so slowly, she began to fall asleep.

"_Onna!" _Came the voice again, but she just didn't care anymore. Her night with her Papa at the festival was ruined, destroyed, and, she was going to be locked up- _"Onna!" _The voice cut in, a sense of urgency in their voice. She slowly managed to open her eyes, seeing the underside of her Papa's chin. A tear ran down the side of her face as she stared up at him, a pain searing that was not caused by the strikes to her head that those kids had done. The one chance she had to spend some time out of that room, with her papa ... she ruined it by letting those men see her shackles. She knew she wasn't going to see him again. The shackles around her wrists reminded her of that so much. She was a monster, a demon, those people called her that all the time, no matter how hard her Papa tried to tell them-

"_ONNA!"_ The distant voice shouted, but she didn't notice. Not even her Momma looked at her without hate in her eyes. She tried so hard to be good, to be normal so that her momma would so much as look at her, so hard that it made her break down in tears every night. But it never worked, no matter how hard she tried. She was so tired, so tired of everything that she just wanted to sleep.

"_MEIA! WAKE UP!"_


	47. Black Fairy

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY SEVEN: Black Fairy**_

The skies above the strange building within the swamps swirled with the brooding colours of thunderstorms. The silence within the building was almost deafening, a sickening silence mixed with the foreboding of failure. Yusuke remained seated upon the bench near the main building, his gaze remaining upon the door that Dante, and Hiei had been behind for the past three hours. What was taking so long? He had thought the loud and obnoxious Dante could have brought Meia back by now. What was the problem? Was it too late and she couldn't be brought back? Koenma had disappeared hours beforehand, having needed to go back to the Spirit world, so that he wouldn't arrouse too much suspicion over what he was doing – it was more than obvious that he was being watched, so if Koenma was gone for too long, then the people that were watching him would begin to follow him through portals, or worse.

Yusuke let out a breath as he stretched slightly on the bench, weariness beginning to creep in on him. In all that time of him going and getting that seaweed, the sack of it was still sitting upon the table, unused and just sitting there rotting in seawater. Yusuke began to wonder if the bag of seaweed was just something to keep him busy while the details of something that he wasn't supposed to know was discussed. But what could it be? The door to the room Dante had disappeared into opened after several moments, causing Yusuke to snap his gaze up immediately.

The tiny form of Dante came out of the room after several moments, her long white hair hanging down in ragged tangles, and the woman herself looked tired and bothered. There was no Hiei though, and Yusuke was beginning to wonder what had happened. He pocketed the tranciever that Koenma had given him, standing up as the old hag headed over to the table with the seaweed sack.

"Hey!" Yusuke called, but there was no apparent response as Dante lifted one of her bony hands, and began to pull out some of the seaweed from the sack. Much to Yusuke's disgust, the woman instead of taking it into the room for some reason, took one large bite out of the seaweed she had in her hand. Shuddering from the sight, he fought to force the image out of his head, but it was harder than it should have been while the woman sat there chewing on the slimy substance. "Uh, Dante! What's the verdict?"

"Aside from needing to be rinsed, a good batch, boy." The woman spoke, her beady brown eyes falling upon Yusuke, and he had to try hard not to lose his temper – with all that was going on, his temper was essentially non-existent.

"Not that! I'm talking about Meia!" Yusuke almost shouted, and Dante blinked in slight shock.

"Oh, right. She's in there, that telepath kid's still in there with her." Dante commented, taking another bite of the seaweed.

"And?" Yusuke pressed, and Dante frowned wearily as she swallowed the bite of seaweed she had.

"She's fragile, so no moving her until I say so." Dante commented, then, she took one last bite of the seaweed she had. "Still, a good batch." Dante commented, and she began to hobble her way over to the main part of her little building. Yusuke watched the old woman for a few moments, before he placed his gaze to the room that held Meia. After a few moments hesitation, he brought himself to walk over to the door of the room, his gaze tracing the inside of the room for several moments. The room was essentially empty, aside from one bed in the far corner, a table with many herbs and creams, and one little bookshelf that held more herbs than anything else. Hiei stood over the bed, his gaze upon the tiny form that remained motionless upon the bed. Yusuke blinked in slight confusion as he thought he spotted a look of weariness across Hiei's face too, but, he was unsure of that as he saw that Hiei looked pretty much normal after he blinked. Stepping into the room, Yusuke could see the tiny form that was Meia lying upon the bed.

She looked weak, lying there like that. She looked paler than usual, when one looked past all the bandages that were wrapped around her petit form. Long, white-blue hair hung over the edge of the bed, and ran down the sides of her face. Silver scars ran down her skin like spiderwebs, though most were faded to the pale white skin tone of her normal skin colour. A black cloak covered most of the tiny girl's form from view, Hiei's cloak as Yusuke took a look at the fire apparition. Just by looking at her like that, it was clear that the girl probably shouldn't be moved for a very, very long time. He let out a breath as he began to approach the bed, glancing at Hiei as the fire apparition looked over after a moment.

"How's she doing?" Yusuke asked, coming to a halt at the end of the bed.

"Baka Onna's stubborn." Was the only reply that Hiei gave, and that was a few moments later than Yusuke would have expected. Yusuke looked at Hiei after several moments, as the fire apparition seemed to straighten up. Though Hiei didn't seem to care about anything to do with Meia, Yusuke was beginning to become suspicious. Hiei was back to that quiet mode that he had been for a while, and Yusuke was beginning to wonder why the fire apparition was like this when it came to Meia. Hiei couldn't really act all that well, as far as Yusuke was concerned, the fire apparition couldn't act like-

_'Mind your own business.' _Came the snapping tone of Hiei's voice in the back of Yusuke's mind, causing the spirit detective to frown slightly.

"So much for not reading minds anymore." Yusuke replied bitterly, and he felt Hiei throw him a slightly sarcastic look.

"Your thoughts are the equivalent to yelling." Hiei replied with an air of boredom, and Yusuke frowned. Though he simply said '_Mind your own business', _so maybe- Yusuke's train of thought was cut off as he felt a full forced look of death hit him in the side of the face, which immediately silenced him. He had no choice but to file it away for future reference, not that he'd actually remember to think about it later.

"Where's Kurama gone, anyway?" Yusuke asked after several moments, only just noticing the absence of the Kitsune thief. The drama's of finding Meia had kidnapped his rational thoughts for a very long time.

"Checking up on the baka human." Hiei replied, almost immediately this time.

"Come on! Why's he doing that? Kuwabara can take care of himself!" Yusuke began, and, he blinked after a moment. "... I think!" He added, frowning at himself momentarily at that thought. Of course Kuwabara could look after himself. It wasn't like some horrible demon was going to walk all the way over to the house and pay Kuwabara a visit while they were away.

But what were they going to do now? Meia was written off as dead by Pacifier breath's old man, and taking that into consideration, it wasn't like they could go back to the house and live just like they had been before. That was just inviting King Enma to come down to earth himself and kill her with his own bare hands. Yusuke watched Meia's face as he thought, his gaze tracing the bandages that covered her form like a strange skin. And it wasn't like she was going to be exactly the same as she was before she was taken into the world of mirrors.

The tiniest hints of broken wings from beneath the black cloak of Hiei's came to Yusuke's notice, and he let out a breath as he began to wonder – was Kurama, in that strange air of hatred, right about Meia belonging to a race of fairies that were far more bloodthirsty and cruel than any demon, or human he had ever come across? This was Meia, for heaven's sake! The girl that couldn't stomach the thought of eating anything that was at all a living creature. He just didn't understand that well, nor did he really want to. But why was Kurama, who gave the benefit of the doubt to anyone and everyone, so certain, and so full of hate at the possibility that Meia was this ... Veiku, was it? The change in attitude from Kurama was just as alarming as finding that pillar of ice surrounded by blood and snow by accident! He let out another breath as he thought on that for a few moments. If it was Hiei that was acting like that, then it would have been normal, and Yusuke would have actually welcomed it. But for Kurama to be like that, there was something very wrong.

"Hiei." Yusuke began, thinking hard on how he was actually going to word his question. "Do you have any idea why Kurama was looking like he was going to kill Meia himself back there?" No reply met his question, and it was a few moments before he wondered why that was. He looked away from Meia after a moment, to where Hiei was standing, to find that the fire apparition was actually gone. Looking around the room, he couldn't help but let out a weary breath as he realised that Hiei must have left the room right around when he was thinking about Kuwabara. "Great, I'm not even noticing him leave, anymore." Yusuke commented dryly, and with one last glance at Meia, he decided, that she'd be alright left in the room on her own for a little while – at least, until he got at least some answers about Kurama's out of character behaviour that morning. Letting himself out of the room, Yusuke closed the door behind him gently. He was finding himself being very careful of doors and windows of late, and he couldn't really understand why that was. He guessed it was just his overcaution with what's been going on. There was a lot going wrong of late.

Within a few moments, he blinked in shock as he noticed Kurama's energy within the confines of the strange swamp the old hag's home was located. Well, at least he could ask Kurama himself, the kitsune had to be at least a bit honest with his answer, and Yusuke wasn't _that _stupid. Though as Yusuke began to approach the energy that belonged to Kurama, the air of foreboding had begun to set in on the strange property. Koenma had been gone for a long while too, now that Yusuke thought about it, the toddler ruler had said that he was only going to be gone for an hour, and it had been three or four at least. Looking at the table Dante's seaweed had been, he noticed upon a glance, that it was gone in it's entirety – obviously the old woman was enjoying the seaweed a great deal.

Kurama's energy came within a few meters of the gate to the property, when Yusuke's feet came to a dead halt. Was that – Kuwabara's energy too? His eyes widened as the gate on the other side of the clearing suddenly burst open, and Kurama stumbled through as if he had been running for his life. Within an instant, almost as soon as Kurama had burst through the door, Hiei appeared with his lightning quick movements, but, that wasn't what had Yusuke frozen in his tracks. Kuwabara's body slumped over Kurama's right shoulder slipped from the kitsune's grip, bloodied and bruised body hitting the ground like a lifeless doll, and the human wasn't conscious.

_It's too late ... They're coming ... _

The sounds of faint, feminine voices echoed through the cold, stagnant air, an eerie sound to the cold and empty world. A flash of something not there, the body lying upon the bed remained motionless, like a lifeless marionette. Silence ran throughout the inner walls of the room, the tiniest hints of a deathly cold within the still room. The cold breath of the body came in faint, misty clouds, the room was cold indeed.

_... Wake up ... Umi ..._

Again, the voices slowly filtered through the room, the sounds of the deep echo of an empty cavern. Like the pain of an empty pit within the centre of one's soul, the silence was unnatural, ubnormal.

_Umi ... Meia ... are you there ...? _

A flash of something not there appeared like a sharp jolt of electricity to the mind, a burning flash that burned the image into the mind, more than seeing it. Crystaline trees, trees that reflected the existence back, but, there was nothing there. The small petit form lying on the bed shifted fractionally, the tiniest twitch of her forefingers. Another painful flash hit like electroshock, again, an image of figures of black, monsters, though they were reflected within the glass trees.

_They're coming for you ... wake up ... please ..._

The sounds of a wall crumbling from a faroff place could be heard, however, the faint, eerie voices covered that up almost seemlessly. The flash of the crystaline trees, trees made of reflective glass flashed into view again, more painful than the last. Red stained the glass, a colour that showed nothing but death and destruction.The shattering sounds of glass rung throughout the area as unseeing topaz eyes suddenly snapped open, a shrill, blood curdling sound that struck deep into the souls of the unwary.


	48. End Of Small Sanctuary

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FOURTY EIGHT: End Of Small Sanctuary**_

The sounds of movement and speech echoed dully beneath the almost deafening thudding of the racing heart. Yusuke stared down at the bloodied form of Kuwabara lying on the ground as Kurama knelt down next to the human quickly. The human looked like he was attacked by a pack of wild animals, to say the least, and as Yusuke tried to grasp what what happening, the sounds of sudden explosions began to echo throughout the swamps. Though he didn't notice, his eyes staring at Kuwabara's face as he seemed to have difficulty breathing.

"What the hell happened?" Came Hiei's demanding voice, cutting through the dull echoes of Yusuke's hearing.

"The house ... has been infiltrated ..." Kurama's breathless voice spoke, and it was only then that Yusuke noticed the state the kitsune thief was in. He bore many gashes across his arms, and despite the mostly exhausted look to the kitsune, Yusuke knew better than to assume that he was just worn out.

"By who? Those creatures?" Hiei demanded, a bite to his voice as he stared the Kitsune down. The suddenly loud echo of another explosion echoed throughout the area, closer still, and Yusuke could feel his nerves begin to kick in.

"No! King Enma's people!" Kurama answered, and it seemed his energy was beginning to return to him as his voice echoed with disdain. "It was all I could do to get him out. I couldn't stop any pursuers!"

"So that means King Enma's gonna capture us now?" Yusuke demanded, speaking for the first time since Kurama burst through the door.

"Capture us?" Hiei commented, the old condecending tone to his voice highlighting the stupidity of that statement.

"I believe the term would be to 'execute us'." Kurama corrected Yusuke. Not another word was spoken, another explosion within a few meters of the door echoed, shaking the whole complex with deathly force. The tiniest hints of forms charging from the outskirts of the swamps came to notice, and Yusuke looked over towards Hiei as Kurama straightened up to lift Kuwabara somewhat upright.

"Our chances?" Yusuke asked after several moments, and he felt Hiei look at him with an intense frown as Kurama lifted Kuwabara up onto his feet with difficulty.

"Poor." Hiei commented without care, and Yusuke felt a glare cross his face as the fire apparition seemed to place no other input on the situation. Another bang echoed, though not from an explosion, causing Yusuke to place his glare instead on the door that Kurama had burst through. That wasn't an explosion, it sounded more like an energy blast collided with the wood of the door. It seemed that King Enma's personal army was beginning to advance on Dante's little swamp grounds, Yusuke could pick up at least twenty forms approaching at a run.

"Well, here I thought I could live the rest of my abnormal life without having hoards of Enma's hitmen after me." Yusuke commented bitterly, straightening up and holding his hands at the ready to deal some punnishment. "You just keep Kuwabara out of the way, me'n Hiei'll deal with these guys."Yusuke frowned as he received no reply, only Kurama beginning to drag Kuwabara towards the room quickly. "What's the chances they're not here to bring us lunch?"

"Hn, your human notions are an irritation." Came Hiei's voice, and Yusuke couldn't help but smirk.

"Looks like we've got something in common, your silent treatment's irritating, too!" Yusuke commented with a chuckle, and it was in that moment that the door in front of them burst open. Well, more like exploded off of it's hinges, the door hit the door with a resounding crash over towards the right as a tall, and sinister form stepped into the huge clearing within the swamp complex. Yusuke raised an eyebrow as the towering form came to a halt just out of the expanse of black smoke billowing from the charred walls. Crimson eyes stared down at the spirit detective, and as he supressed a shudder at the bloodlust behind those eyes, it made Hiei's most dangerous glares look like a warm smile. Long, black hair hung down the sides of a elegantly masculin face, framing his pallid form well. Wearing the tidy robes of the Spirit World Special forces, this being was clearly one of King Enma's best soldiers. His form was thin, almost skeletal, and the being seemed to resemble a kind of sly and sinister hunter. A spider was all that Yusuke could see in him, it felt like the being was beginning to take note of who was the most beneficial victim at that point.

"Whatcha want, spidey?" Yusuke spoke, a feeble attempt to make himself feel bigger than he really was. This being was more intimidating than anyone he had met before. There was several moments of silence as the being seemed to calculate who and what was in this place as his blood-thirsty gaze flickered to Hiei, and then over to the door that Kurama was placing Kuwabara at.

"Your petty words mean nothing, half-blood. If you have to call me something, then I pray it be my name. I believe Balthesar should do." The tall being spoke, his voice sounding sinisterly gentle, in contrast with his appearance, and Yusuke had to stifle a freezing shudder as the being merely straightened himself up and began to lightly dust his spirit world robes off casually, revealing the true height of this strange being. Yusuke only came up to the being's waist, which would make the being at least ten feet tall. "I'm merely here to retrieve what rightfully belongs to my Lord." Yusuke dared a glance towards Hiei, to see a look across his face that showed just about as much blood lust as the being before them calling himself Balthesar, wished for.

"Yeah? And what would that be? Some kind of cursed Jewelery or something?" Yusuke commented, placing his gaze back to the strange being, only to see a slight smile across his face.

"Putting it that way makes it sound more innocent than required, though I do like the metaphore." Balthesar spoke, crossing his arms slowly after a moment. "I'm a fair being, I prefer to think, so I'm willing to offer you a deal." The form drew his gaze straight to look Yusuke right in the eye. "Bring me the Maiden, and I will make your deaths quick and painless."

"Told ya they weren't here to bring us lunch." Yusuke commented sarcastically, and if there wasn't the fact of Balthesar standing before them, he knew Hiei would have taken the time to throw him a frown. "I'm sorry to break it to you, Bal." Yusuke began, his fists tightening slightly as he saw the being let out a breath. "I don't know what you mean by 'maiden'. We've only got a broody old hag that chows down on Seaweed here. But if you're after her, then I'm sure Koenma's more than happy to let us hand her over." Though he didn't actually like the batty old woman, he was only joking. He doubted that Koenma would condone the old woman's life used as bartering material for this situation.

"Then you leave me no choice." Balthesar spoke, a tone of weariness in his voice as he unfolded his arms. "And I wished to have this outfit without any stains for more than a day."

"Too bad, There's going to be more than a few bloodstains by the time I've finished with you!" Yusuke spoke, his gaze narrowed as he held his index finger out to power up his Spirit Gun. He needed to wrap this up quick, the other invading beings were just a few meters from the door now. "SPIRIT GUN!" He shouted, aiming his spirit attack quickly before he shot. The area before him was engulfed in the white energy of his attack, blinding all from vision. Feeling proud, he ventured the guess that he had landed a direct hit from how the energy sprayed everywhere, and as he stepped back a few paces, the energy from his attack dissipated.

The wall that barricaded the clearing room from the outside of the swamp was strangely intact, though this wasn't what had Yusuke's attention. Balthasar's form was standing practically unscathed just where he had been before, his crimson eyes holding a condecending look that just made Yusuke's blood begin to boil. Only the being's clothes had actually been damaged, a solid hit to the stomach had burnt away a solid circle of material, the place where Yusuke's attack had impacted. Although, where one would expect pallid flesh to be, there was nothing but the rippling substance of a metalic black liquid, resebling something all to familiar to this whole situation with the unconscious girl in the back room. The heavy scent of melting iron filled the area like a heavy cloud, far more potent than the swamp's sickening scent, which altered one's ability to think far more severely than that musky scent that Yusuke had only just gotten used to.

"Well, this answers a few questions." Yusuke ground out, taking more of a guarded stance as Balthesar gingerly tore the silk top from his form, tossing it asside like some discarded second skin. No, this creature wasn't a spider, Yusuke thought as he took a pace backwards carefully. His equally as venomous gaze watched as Balthesar's skin suddenly split in a sudden shower of metalic liquid, making way for the reptillian form that hid beneath. This creature was far worse than a spider, the metalic liquid grew in volume and shape, many long tentacles of black stretching out from the main body. At the ends of the many tentacles, reptillian heads formed, taking the appearance of a Hydra, though this was far worse than the garden variety Hydra that wandered the oceans of the southern parts of the Makai. Where those had 7 heads, this one that continued to grow grew 21 heads, and all with razor sharp teeth.

"I bare no real grudge with the likes of you."The form before Yusuke spoke, deformed, and showing the full bloodlust behind the more-human form. More of the metallic substance began to seep up from the ground around them, though Yusuke could only count eight from where he was. "However, my lords will is final, and your deaths shall be slow and painful. I'll enjoy tearing your bodies to pieces."

"That's if you can catch us!" Yusuke spoke confidently, though his teeth clenched with discomfort. With 21 pairs of jaws, and obviously the same number of brains between the heads, Yusuke was more than a little certain that if he didn't keep all 21 hydra heads in check, he'd be grabbed with ease, and he wasn't with the same flow of able speed as Hiei, not by a long shot. Though with two people there, it would be easier – unless those forms that were still growing were individual creatures too, with their own minds and abilities like any normal demon?

Before he could so much as blink, one of the hydra heads fell from the body right before his eyes, and it took no more than an instance of thought to have him understand that the monster of metalic liquid had attempted to strike. Letting out a breath and filing his guessed thanks to Hiei for later, he threw himself to the left to try and put some distance between him and Hiei – the last thing he wanted was to be caught in the same pair of jaws as Hiei simultaniously. His glance over at the many forms of black metalic liquid in the shapes of humanoid creatures brought him to bring his clenched fist back to his side, as if ready to throw one full forced punch into someone's stomach.

"SHOTGUN!" Yusuke shouted, unleashing a barrage of spiritual bullets in the forceful punch, peppering the tens of black forms in front of him with many gaping holes. The black liquid that fell from the many forms merely grew to form many more humanoid forms, while the holes in the originals merely closed up, allowing them to begin to advance again. He let out a frustrated growl as he leapt backwards to avoid being tackled by a group of seven liquid humanoids. "My shotgun didn't work, either! Just sprouted new ones!" He ground out, avoiding being attacked again as he eyed the new liquid humanoids with deadly venom. That thick melting iron scent was so strong he felt like he was about to keel over and empty his stomach, but he forced himself to keep avoiding attacks. A fireball whirled past Yusuke's head, allerting him to the obvious problem at hand – those little humanoids were only part of a bigger problem, the worst part of this was the 21 headed hydra Balthesar that had just knocked over the outter wall of the complex with one full forced swing at the lightning-quick Hiei.

How he wished for something easier to kill than creatures made out of liquid metal! He'd at least stand a chance! It didn't seem Hiei was having any more luck than he was as a fireball hit the hydra Balthesar directly, though it only seemed to sizzle out of existence, like a flame submerged in water. And Yusuke very much doubted pounding the liquid form's lights out would actually work all that well. Oh! Why couldn't luck bless him for once? A yelp of fright suddenly escaped him as he threw himself as far away from the hydra Balthesar as he could, just in time to avoid being collected by a pure black flame in the shape of a giant dragon. Sliding to a stumbling halt, he threw himself over to the far right again, getting as far away from the Hydra as he could.

"Damn it Hiei!" Yusuke shouted, his voice being drowned out from the impact of the Dragon attack collecting the Hydra Balthesar in one fell swoop, taking out the whole complex wall in one earthshattering explosion. A gasp escaped him as he felt many forms suddenly latch onto him, and as his form crumbled to the ground, many little pairs of jaws latched onto his arms and legs with alarming force. The sounds of glass shattering met Yusuke's temporarily deafened ears suddenly, and it shouldn't have surprised Yusuke to hear that straight after that explosion, but, everything seemed to have stopped, as if something other than Hiei's deadly attack had caused the glass to shatter like that. The jaws that had been latching onto his form seemed to slowly release him, as if hypnotised by something he couldn't seem to put his finger on. Opening his eyes against the pain of his injuries, his gaze took in the sight of something that he immediately knew to be the worst thing to happen.

Fragments of glass hung in the air, as if the whole area was suspended in time. Coloured glass, the shade of blood. The many metalic forms within the area seemed to be staring over at the door to the room Meia was being held in, only, the sight of a form that shouldn't have been so much as conscious met Yusuke's blurry gaze. The small, petit form of a young woman stood akwardly on unstable feet, though the form was motionless to say the least. Though his eyes were blurry, the sight of the lack of emotion, or even consciousness within the form was noticeable to say the least, and as Yusuke fought to see more, all he could see was the blood that seemed to flow down the form's body at an alarming rate. The glass suspended in the air seemed to circulate slowly around the form, an eerie sight, considering the situation, and though he couldn't see it to be sure, the glass seemed to become stained more and more, the faster the fragments began to circulate.

"... Ne ... tami ... " Came a rasping voice, from right above Yusuke's head, and, slowly, the other forms of metalic liquid seemed to come out of that frozen state.

"Netami ..." More rasping voices began to speak, more and more, alerting Yusuke to the one fact that overruled all others – they were barely twenty meters from getting hold of her again, and he wasn't able to do anything!

"Meia! Snap out of it!" He managed to shout, forcing himself to try and get up – to no avail. "Damn it! Wake up! MEIA!" No response, the liquid humanoids began to rush towards the unstable girl, and he couldn't move. He didn't know what had happened to Hiei, or the Hydra Balthesar, nor did it seem to matter. "God damn it Meia! Wake up! PLEASE!" His blurry eyes widened as the humanoids threw themselves through the wall of glass fragments to leap upon the unconcsious girl. "MEIA!"His wide eyes only widened more as the liquid humanoids suddenly shrieked in pain before closing their grip of the girl, and for some reason he could not comprehend, the forms that had leapt through the glass burst into showers of liquid. Moments passed, and as Yusuke blinked his blurry eyes, the liquid forms neither moved, nor regained their forms. A thick and heavy silence hung in the air, an almost crushing silence that became as sharp and painful as ice hung for just a few moments, long enough for one word to be heard over the whole battlefield.

"Sleep." Came an almost volumeless voice, a soft and gentle voice that sounded empty at the same time. The tiny form of Meia wavered slightly as her empty eyes closed, and if only for a moment, the frozen silence rung before the glass shot outwards like it was caught in the force of an explosion. Peppering the many liquid forms with bloodied glass, instead of reforming afterwards like in Yusuke's attack, the forms all burst into small showers of metalic water. Silence rung throughout the area once again, and the forms of metalic liquid remained innocently still, slowly dragging Yusuke's remaining composure from his grasp. He could feel his form shaking from something asside from pain -from shock – he had truly believed that she was done for.

Movement from Yusuke's left didn't even register to him mentally, though he subconsciously knew who it was. The form of the normally brooding fire apparition was barely visible, though Yusuke blinked in shock as the many glass shards that had been upon the ground from the assault before lifted from the ground slowly to begin circulating around the young girl covered with blood. He looked to the fire apparition quickly, his expression reflecting what was written across the fire apparitions face like an exact replica. Was she about to use her attack on them as well? Upon another look at the blood-soaked woman, it was more than clear she wasn't conscious, but ... how did she do that to those liquid humanoids? He looked at Hiei frantically, trying to find some answer in the fire apparition that had spent more than a few hours wandering the young woman's inner world, but there was none to behold!

"... Sleep ..." Came that soft, empty voice from before, and Yusuke actually managed to scramble backwards a few feet.

"Wait! Meia! It's us!" Yusuke exclaimed, his shock reflected within his voice. "Don't – we're your friends – Meia-" Yusuke shut his eyes tight as he saw those glass fragments suddenly halt in their movement – Hiei probably could get out of the way, but he couldn't! He braced himself for the shower of glittering agony to hit him.

"Umiko!" Came the suddenly forceful voice of Hiei's that Yusuke still wasn't used to hearing again. He snapped his eyes open at that name – who in the hell was Umiko? Several moments passed, and there was no shower of glass. He dared a look over at the bloodied woman that was previously weilding the alarmingly effective weapon, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a look of lucid recognition written across Meia's face. Okay - The name Umiko had some kind of meaning to her? Yusuke looked at Hiei for a moment as Meia's legs gave way on her – it wasn't like he could do anything about it. The area was deathly quiet, and as Yusuke looked to Meia in time to see her collapse completely, he heard Hiei's voice cut through the icy silence.

"We'd best leave, before the rest of the irritations arrive." Hiei spoke, a cool tone to his voice as Yusuke watched. The fire apparition didn't seem to waste any time as he approached the fallen Meia, though Yusuke did wonder as to why the fire apparition wasn't making Yusuke carry the girl, disregarding the obvious reasons, like, Hiei was practically uninjured, of course. Of course, the fire apparition was throwing dragon flame after dragon flame, so he was most definitely without most of his demon energy, but at least he wasn't injured. Yusuke decided to snoop on Hiei's actions later as he managed to drag himself to his feet painfully – Hiei was right, after all. They'd better leave before the reinforcements for the attacking masses arrived. He looked to the unconscious Meia cautiously as he recalled that attack she was about to use on them, before Hiei managed to somehow stop her with just one name. That attack must have been incredibly powerful to take down those metalic liquid creatures as easily as they did, but, he didn't sense anything powerful behind it.

Well, at least Yusuke knew for sure that the crackpot, Dante, was actually able to revive Meia. He decided that he'd have to come back and bring her another bag of seaweed in thanks, later, when they weren't escaping Spirit world soldiers that seemed more like the unknown bad guys than anything else. His thoughts were quickly redirected as the scent of something sickly sweet began to assault his sense of smell, and he could feel himself beginning to become ill again. Hiei stood up straight over where the fallen girl had been, causing Yusuke to look properly for a moment. Meia was held in Hiei's arms carefully, obviously the kindest way to carry her at that point. The sounds of a door opening in the distance came to conscious notice, and Yusuke looked over wearily as he managed to force the pain of his injuries back. The form of Kurama stepped out of the room that he had been keeping Kuwabara safe in, the human slumped over his shoulder like before. No words were spoken, only one knowing look given from Kurama to Hiei from the distance between them.

It didn't take a brain surgeon to decide that they were better off slipping out now, while they had the chance – Dante would be fine, as long as she stayed inside where she had been the whole time.

The sun was setting down into the far horizons of the swamps as the door to the previously intact clearing hall slowly opened. Eyes peered out at the destruction that had engulfed the whole area, pure horror filling the age-filled orbs within an instance. Dante stepped out of the building that was her home slowly, her weak hands shaking at the horror that her property was in. The walls that kept her home barricaded from the swamps were knocked down in their entirety, and the vegetation that was within the boundaries of the clearing hall were covered in glass, if not turned to charcoal. To come out and be greeted by this amount of distruction was horrific to say the least.

How could she have not heard anything that was going on? True, she was a heavy sleeper, and after that amount of work bringing the demoness girl back to life, all her energy was spent. But she should have heard whatever the hell was going on out here! What was worse, was the fact that she couldn't sense any sign of anyone within a thousand square miles of the complex! Something had gone terribly wrong, and she had an idea as to what that was. The stench of melting iron and something else that was sickly sweet was still in the air, mostly, and it was a disorientating mix, to say the least. Her frail feet took her to the edge of the glass shower, where a space of about a meter diameter was free from all glass and signs of obvious damage. There were several scorch marks that had hit the very last wall that was still standing, huge attacks of high power – why didn't she sense anything while this was all going on? A soft chuckle filtered through the area from behind as Dante went to take a pace forward, snapping her to a sudden halt as her eyes widened in fear. The scent of melting iron was so thick in the air, she didn't sense anything there at all.

"I must thank you once again, Dante." Came the same soft tone of a masculine voice, despite the softness, it held the tone of pure bloodlust – an unatural hunger for blood, she knew that voice well. The hairs on the back of Dante's neck stood up on end as that voice echoed within her mind, however, she didn't dare turn around in the least. "You've saved us a lot of trouble. How many times does that make it, now?

"B-Balthesar- What -" She began, however she fell silent as she heard that chuckling voice echo over her words.

"Tsk, tsk. I only came to thank you for reviving your great-grandaughter for us, not to engauge in small talk." Balthesars voice spoke harshly, as cold and brutally as if he had just slapped her across the face.

"My Great-Grandaughter-" Dante whispered, then, her voice caught in her throat. "Umi-" Dante choked out, whirling around to look the person behind her in the eye, only, she fell silent and motionless as her eyes fell upon the sight that greeted her. The sadistic grin across the face belonging to Balthesar was almost as sickening as the crushing realisation of what was about to happen, and even though she heard the high-pitched screeching that signaled her demise, she didn't release his gaze.

"You weren't supposed to look." Balthesar's voice sung in a mocking tone, highlighting the sadistic side of his demented personality as he chuckled slightly. "Farewell, old hag." Silence echoed, for but a moment, then, a blood-curdling crunch echoed suddenly, and the headless body of Dante fell to the ground with a dull thud, her head rolling down towards the little stream down below.


	49. The Frozen Graveyard

___**CHAPTER FOURTY NINE: The Frozen Graveyard**_

Flowing water, the sounds of the current within the crystal clear liquid was calming to most beings. A crisp night air was about the place, refreshing and strangely energised, despite the lack of movement within the area. The sounds of something heavy running along the ground could be heard, faintly, though there was nothing else that could mask the hints of the noise. The sensations of pain was something that was accustomed to those within this strange environment, a second sense despite the lack of cause of the pain. The grey skies above, the pure reflection of an empty abyss that was more unnerving than the pitch black that was what most beings assumed death to be. An emptiness that struck straight through to the soul beneath.

My eyes, seemed to be weak for some reason, and I couldn't seem to manage more than blinking. My body, for some reason, felt engulfed in pain, but I couldn't understand why that was. My eyelids were heavy, I could feel the need to just go back to sleep, but it felt like I had been asleep forever. I couldn't even remember the last time I had been awake. I didn't know which one I wanted either, to wake up? Or just go back to sleep? It didn't feel like there was anything worth waking up for, and it just hurt too much to even contemplate. I couldn't remember anything either, the last I remembered was walking into that strange church ... with that woman absolutely giving me hell, for some reason. Why was I there in the first place?

"_Umiko!" _Came a faint, commanding voice through the breeze that my mostly deaf ears could hear, just, and I was immediately confused. I didn't recognise that voice, and I was a little surprised. I had never heard that name before, as far as I could tell, but ... why does it sound like I should know it? With one weak breath, I managed to drag myself upright, as easily as I could in any case, and I was immediately a little surprised. My body felt heavy, like I hadn't actually used it before in my whole life. Confusing point number two right there, I already knew that. I forced my weariness to the back of my mind as I slowly looked around this strange place I was in.

The body of water that I had been hearing, I spotted that immediately. It was a crystal clear lake that reflected the exact image of the strange forest around me, creating the unnerving illusion that there was another forest down in the ground in front of me. The trees were really strange too. I had never seen anything like it. The trees were made out of mirrors, and really shiny ones too – I couldn't tell what was mirror and what was actual reflection. I let out a breath after several moments. I suppose I had better get on with this strange dream, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be the usual dream where I ended up dying in the end. Getting to my feet was so much harder than it should have been, I had no real balance, and for some strange reason, my head was starting to throb, like I had just been hit over the back of the head with a paving brick or something. These trees were something else though, normally I saw that black tree made out of rock, but trees made out of mirrors? That was a new one. Whatever part of my brain that made me have these messed up dreams must have been working overtime since I tripped over that stupid cat!

My mind didn't seem to be working all that well either, I noticed as I began to hobble over to the line of mirror trees that were to my right, my weak gaze taking in the sight of the reflections of the forest within itself. The forest probably wasn't that big at all, but the mirror trees made it look so much bigger than I was willing to bet. Not paying attention to the images in the reflections throughout the forest, I placed my right hand upon the closest tree to try and help my balance. Only, my hand didn't touch anything at alll. I felt all colour leave my face as I felt myself fall straight through the tree like it wasn't even there! I hit the ground hard, feeling a searing pain in my arm that shouldn't have been there – I didn't even fall on my arm! Blinking furiously to push the pain to the back of my mind, I looked up at the tree that I had previously thought was a solid structure. Only, my eyes widened at the sight that greeted my weak and confused gaze.

A thin, petit form stood before me, within the confines of one of the trees made of mirrors. Long misty blue hair hung down to the ground in matted clumps, caked with blood and grime. Her skin was pale, almost a porcelean white, and the silver strands that flowed along the skin caught the tiniest hints of the light from the strange sky. Her eyes were glazed white, the one dead giveaway of the form being deceased, and as I stared in horror, blood began to pour from gaping holes in her body.

"Meia ..." Came a faint, rasping voice that seemed to emmit from right behind me, but I couldn't seem to make my body move!

"No ... that's not your real name ... is it?" Came the faint tone of another voice from somewhere to my right, but all that my body seemed to be doing was _not _breathing! A moment later, a scream escaped me as a hand suddenly slammed down on my right shoulder, sending me crashing to the stone ground with such force that my head hit with a resounding 'crack'. White blurs danced beneath my eyelids, a disorientating sea of flickering light as my hearing seemed to fade in and out.

"Umiko ..." Came that first voice, right by my ear, and I managed to force my eyes open as that hand to my shoulder disappeared, and the sensations of water dripping down over my forehead came to my senses. My eyes were blury, so blury that I could only see the tiniest hints of colour before me, but it was more than enough to have me frozen in place. Long misty blue hair hung like a curtain around me, blocking everything else from my view as that blood stained, empty face stared down at me with a smile that made my blood freeze in my veins. It was _her _blood that was dripping onto my forehead from a gash across her throat! The tiniest hints of cerulean blue could be seen past the cataract-struck eyes of the dead reflection above me, and it felt just like I was drowning.

"You should know by now ..." The dead woman began, a blood-curdling giggle in the back of her throat as she stared straight into my eyes, and I into hers. "You can't stay asleep anymore." My gaze seemed to slowly fade as that sensation of drowning completely engulfed my entire form, and my body seemed to flinch as that dead woman leaning over me gently lifted a hand and touched it to the side of my face.

"Daddy can't protect us anymore."

Dull throbbing, the sound of an almost hollow thumping slowly came to hearing. The crisp sensation of early morning dew was about the area, drowning out any other real scent from notice. My mind was foggy for some reason, I couldn't seem to form a coherrent thought as I slowly opened my eyes, wincing at the pain that seemed to shoot through my head at the tiniest motion. By the damp chill about the place, as far as I could feel, It should have been dark, like three in the morning, but all I could see was blurs of white and grey. I couldn't seem to feel anything though, but I could somehow feel that it was cold, or was it my imagination? I seemed to by lying on my back, for some reason, I seemed to be lying under something akin to a coat of some sort. Those grey blurs in my vision didn't seem to begin to come into focus, but I could feel my eyes really begin to strain as I tried to actually see what those moving blurs actually were. Why ... couldn't I see them? And why couldn't I seem to remember anything?

A sudden jolt of pain, like a hot poker to the temples shot through my head, causing me to wince in pain. That couldn't have been caused by straining my eyes so soon, could it? I opened my eyes slowly, and, to my relief, I could see a little more definition. That dull foggyness in my mind was still about, practically rendering me deaf, blind, and of course, incapable of any real coherrent thought. I seemed to be staring up at a white ceiling, it reminded me of a hospital for some reason, but I couldn't hear anything. The strain to my eyes seemed to be increasing that fast that it seemed smarter for me to just go back to sleep, but, it felt like it had been forever since I had been conscious. I had to force my eyes open this time as my body didn't seem to want to respond all that well, and, it wasn't white anymore. Red had taken the place of the pure white, a startling colour as the sounds of fire suddenly came to my hearing as I actually comprehended what that sound and colour meant. I felt my body suddenly react, dragging myself upright frantically as menacing flames began to fill the room quickly – too quickly, the roof was already engulfed in the read flames.

Flames, Fire! Everything was alight with the deadly light, and I looked around frantically, trying to find some way out of the burning building. I couldn't seem to drag myself to my feet, my body didn't seem to be working anymore, and my eyes remained glued upon the flames as they took over the floor around me. There were no doors, no windows. Not even a skylight. Just a solid cage that seemed to resemble a room! Searing pain engulfed my body suddenly as the flames happily leapt from the floor, onto me. This wasn't like waking up with my body slicing itself in some masochistic way, this was pure undiluted pain that burned like I really was on fire! Air seemed to be escaping my lungs just as soon as I had managed to get a breath, as if I was breathing in the fire instead of air, and I could hear the faintest sounds of a far off screaming of pure pain, and it could have been me, but I couldn't see, think, or even feel anything except for firey pain.

Faint yelling voices seemed to meet that far off screaming, frantic voices, but I didn't recognise them, only feeling something through the fire slam me back down, just like in that dream – but this time I couldn't tell if the force of slamming down on the ground actually hurt, or was nothing in comparison to the fire. Hands gripped at me, pinning me down to the ground with force as my body shuddered against them, and those far off voices continued to yell, though they were familiar. The air still didn't seem to come into my lungs, and I could feel nothing else.

"You're not burning!" Came one of the yelling voices, so loud and frantic that panic was beginning to creep into their voice. "There's no fire! MEIA!" It was then that I could make out the faintest of words that were mixed in that screaming that I could now just understand was my own voice, and why I couldn't seem to keep any breath in my own lungs. "MEIA! Calm Down! You're not-" A sudden pain across the side of my face seemed to silence me, and, within less than a second, it seemed, I was staring up at the interior of what seemed to be a cave. A flickering of pain just as intense as the burning shot straight through my chest, my unfocused gaze seeing blood splatter into motion, covering my form and the stone I was lying upon with the crimson fluid.

"K-Kurama-!" Came that panicked voice, sounding terrified beyond belief, but, I couldn't see anything more than blurred forms kneeling over me, nor could I feel any pain anymore.

"_You should know by now ... you can't stay asleep anymore."_ Came the faint voice in the back of my mind as sudden pressure was applied to where the blood was flowing from, my unfocused gaze upon the space of the cave to my right, where a form stood in near-horror. I had only just woken up ... and this happened. The form within my unfocused gaze shifted slightly, their usually cloaked form speckled with the faintest flecks of crimson as I felt my eyes slowly begin to close. The yelling voices seemed to slowly drown out too, as did my awareness.


	50. Rhapsody Of A Windy Night

_** -[**__**The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

___**CHAPTER FIFTY: Rhapsody Of A Windy Night**_

Silence rung throughout the area, a dull sense of foreboding about the area as the sun began to rise in the distance. The forest was cold, damp, and in all manner of speaking, depressing. The sounds of a small stream flowing in the distance was all that could really be heard, and there wasn't much else to mention. Three forms remained outside a cave leading to the inside of the cliffs along the forest edge, one, unconscious from what one could only assume was strain from injuries he bore over his body, and the other two silent and motionless, one seated up on a boulder furtherest from the mouth of the cave, and the other sitting cross legged next to the unconscious man.

Yusuke let out a weary breath, looking over at the fire apparition seated upon the boulder about eight meters away with a look of weary curiosity over his face. Hiei had been silent the whole night, and Yusuke was wondering what was on the fire apparition's mind. Instead of that usual 'I'm bored, I'm gonna stare out at the distance' look he had whenever he just sat there like that, a look of deep thought was written across Hiei's face. Flecks of blood were still over Hiei's face, flecks of _her _blood, and it didn't seem that Hiei even noticed – another hint that Hiei wasn't in his usual bored state.

Yusuke let out another breath, looking down at his right hand after a few moments. He shouldn't have slapped her, but at the time, he couldn't think of any other way to snap her out of that state she seemed trapped in. It was the most soul crushing sight he had ever seen. Kurama was having trouble keeping Meia from struggling, and he was trying to find some way to snap her out of it. They had heard her start screaming, he and Kurama came running. As soon as he had slapped her, she fell motionless, and her eyes snapped open immediately. He had thought she had snapped out of it, but that empty, unseeing look had him question it, right before several gashes in her chest above her heart burst into existence, exactly the same way as the first time he had seen her. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand after a few moments, letting out another breath. Yes, exactly the same way as her arm nearly becoming amputated when he and Kurama tried to splint her leg way back in the beginning.

What was it that made her react like that? Made her body react with such ferocity that gashes and fricking impalements and amputated _limbs _would suddenly burst into life? As if something invisible had just come and did that to her? He could recall another two times asside from her most recent episode that her body had spontaniously decided to turn masochistic, to the point where he knew Hiei and Kurama had decided that with the amount of blood in that basement, it would be wiser to just sit and watch instead of coming down at a run to see what had happened every time she seemed to cut herself. It wasn't hard for anyone to notice, they'd just sit there and wait for her to eventually come out requiring medical assistance.

Footsteps met Yusuke's hearing, and, he placed his gaze to the mouth of the cave as he spotted visible movement. The weary form of Kurama stepped out into the early morning light, his emerald green outfit speckled with dried blood. Yusuke watched, taking in the sight of all the blood that covered his hands and half way up his right arm.

"How is she?" Yusuke asked, his weariness evident in his own voice. It seemed the only person around that wouldn't be tired beyond belief, was Kuwabara when he woke up, although those injuries the human had sustained were quite serious. They had taken the abilities of Yukina and Spirit World for granted, Yusuke noted. Either Yukina, or the Shade Demons in Spirit World were the ones that usually took care of any real injuries that they sustained, and this was the first time in years that Yusuke knew of, that they'd have to let the injuries take their time to heal, unless they came across a healer somewhere along the track, although Yusuke very much doubted that there would be a magical healer wandering around somewhere in the makai.

"Well, she doesn't seem like she's going to bleed to death anymore." Kurama commented wryly, and Yusuke reluctently nodded after several moments. "I believe, as soon as she's conscious again, we should start moving." Yusuke blinked in shock, and it was written plainly across his face.

"Hold on a second!" He suddenly exclaimed, and he felt Hiei look over after a moment. "We can't move her straight after she wakes up! She's got a freaking hole in her chest!"

"The sooner we get moving, the more distance we put between us, and spirit world's tactical forces." Kurama replied, picking up the plastic bag that contained at least one change of clothing, and Yusuke cursed as the Kitsune began to head down to the stream.

"This is rediculous!" Yusuke spat, glaring after Kurama's disappearing form as he felt his irritation begin to take over.

"She'll survive." Came the tiniest hints of Hiei's voice, so suddenly that Yusuke jumped. He looked over to the fire apparition in mention immediately, to see him glaring over at Yusuke.

"What?" Yusuke spoke, and he saw Hiei roll his eyes as he placed his gaze back to the forest to his right.

"She's difficult to kill."Yusuke blinked, almost not able to comprehend that statement. She's difficult to kill? Yeah right, more like she's difficult to keep alive. Though each to their own take on it, the people out to kill her were probably thinking the same as what Hiei had just said, and were probably just as frustrated with the whole situation as he was.

"What're we gonna do when she wakes up?" Yusuke wondered out loud, looking up at the trees above him after a few moments. "It's not like we're gonna be inconspicuous wandering around the countryside carrying two crippled people around! Someone's bound to notice!" No comment met Yusuke's rhetorical remark, and he found himself somewhat glaring. How he just wanted to argue his point some more, but it was his oppinion against Kurama's probably much smarter oppinion, and Hiei's lack of complaint didn't exactly help. Though it wasn't like Hiei to complain about very much, he just usually brooded until he felt better. Maybe he had already spent all night brooding, and had nothing left to brood over? Yeah right, any other day, yeah, but not with all that had happened in a matter of three days. Oh Keiko was going to kill him for not turning up yesterday evening, but what could he do?

The tiniest hints of movement next to Yusuke dragged the tiniest hints of confusion out of him. Looking down at the Human that had made the sounds of movement, Yusuke realised that he was waking up. Poor Kuwabara, talk about bad luck – All that Kurama had said was that in the moment that he had gotten back to the house, he was ambushed by Spirit World's Special Forces. Kuwabara was lucky that Kurama had noticed his flickering spirit energy within the house – only just enough time to escape. Kuwabara seemed to be waking up, Yusuke noted as the human stirred even more, and he glanced over at the cave as Kuwabara grunted slightly. He very much doubted Meia would be awake anytime soon. If she didn't wake, they'd have to move her, and it didn't seem likely that she'd survive being moved again.

"How're you feeling?" Yusuke asked as he heard Kuwabara sit upright after a few minutes, seeing the human look at him after a few moments.

"Like I was pounded up that punk with the Yoyo's again." Kuwabara ground out, a hand going to his swolen face. "Scratch that, like _you _smashed my face in."

"I haven't done that in years, and you know it." Yusuke spoke quietly after a few moments, looking back over at the cave again. He hoped Meia would wake up soon, his nerves weren't settling like they should.

"Where are we, anyway?" Kuwabara's voice came after a few moments, snapping Yusuke out of thought suddenly.

"I dunno, the Makai?" Yusuke commented, and he almost felt that frown smack him upside the head.

"Forty days travel from the Frozen wastelands." Came Kurama's voice from behind, causing Yusuke to look over after a few moments. Kurama, fit with clean clothes, was blood free, and looking a little more refreshed. Yusuke just couldn't be bothered in washing up at the stream – a little blood never hurt anyone, though the sickly sweet scent that was now obviously the smell of Meia's blood, was beginning to get to him again.

"And where's that?" Kuwabara asked, a sluggish tone to his voice.

"Not too far from where we found Meia-"

"What?" Kuwabara suddenly exclaimed, snapping Yusuke's gaze straight back to the human. Why did he sound surprised? "Where is she? Is she okay?" Kuwabara exclaimed, scrambling to his feet quicky, despite the fact that his injuries should have kept him seated at the very least.

"You're acting like you didn't know." Yusuke commented, and he felt a frown cross his face as Kuwabara looked at him in pure confusion.

"Meia's not in the best of condition -" Yusuke coughed slightly to stop himself from saying anything snide "- But she's inside." Kurama finished, motioning to the cave, which sent Kuwabara stumbling away almost immediately. Yusuke drew his gaze to look up at Kurama, taking in the look of unease, reminding him of those nerves of his that hadn't settled yet.


	51. Umiko no Uta

___**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

___**CHAPTER FIFTY ONE: Umiko no Uta**_

Silence, that was all that echoed throughout the lands. An eerie reply to an unvoiced statement, a state of being that was chilling to the bone. My head ached like I had just taken a sledge hammer to the side of my face, and my body was in so much pain just remaining motionless that I began to wonder where I was now. I distinctly remember being locked in a burning room, for the first part. Secondly, I distinctly remember being locked in a room full of chains before. My head throbbed as I thought on those things sluggishly. Either there was something very wrong with me, or I was imagining things, either which, I didn't know about the likelihood of either. A cold chill ran through my already pained form, sending a shock of stabbing pain straight through my body. Slowly opening my eyes, I found myself looking up at a vaguely familiar ceiling, though my eyes were that blurry that it looked more like tones of grey against a black backdrop. I studied it for a few moments, hoping that the splattered feeling to my mind would begin to subside so I could take the rest of the pain without feeling like I was going to burst into tears.

I blinked slowly, beginning to remember that firey room flickering to a stone ceiling belonging to a cave of sorts. And there were people with me, people that I vaguely recognised, but I only saw the blurry form of one I couldn't seem to put a name to. I felt my mind ache as I put two and two together groggily, and I guessed that the firey room was a dream of some sort, and a far more vivid one at that. Maybe an illusion or something? I was clearly dying in that one, but why wasn't I beneath that black crystal tree again? Had something ... changed? I tried to drag myself upright, but I barely managed to lift myself a little before pure agony hit, and I was sent crumbling back to the ground. It was like my whole body was covered in injuries – and not just grazes, like burns or something – and it was just too painful to move.

"Oww ..." I felt my body say, but no voice came. Was my voice gone as well? I blinked slowly, feeling the throbbing in my head become a little worse. I frowned weakly, taking one long, deep breath, and in one motion, I swung myself upright with all my strength. I knew the burst of pain was coming before I even felt it, but that wasn't enough to stop me from letting out a gasp of pain. Carefully rearranging myself, I managed to remain upright, though the pain in my body doubled. A seering pain I could not rid myself of, I managed to push it aside as I looked down at my body. There was a blanket that covered most of my form, it was a dark black that showed up the bandages up my arms noticeably. I blinked, looking at the bandages intensely. All the skin of my arms, and even my hands, were covered, and I could see blood seeping through the bandages, slowly, but the bleeding must have been stemmed before I moved. I stared, trying to remember what happened for me to have so many bandages. What happened? Did I fall down a cliff or something? All I remember was being dragged through a mirror before that weird black, melting iron thing killed me.

A shadow to my right shifted slightly, dragging my pained attention from my painful body, and to who was standing right there. My gaze was still unfocused and blurry, and not in the least bit helpful, but as I looked up at who was there, I found myself feeling a little confused. A flash of an image appeared in my mind, a painful shock, but it was gone before I could even register what it was about. Though my eyes were a little more focused, I found myself looking up at the black-clad man that I had very little to do with at all, though my gut told me immediately, that he wasn't human. He watched me in silence, an appearing look of his usual disinterested look, though even with my blurry sight, I could still see the tiniest hints of mild surprise hidden within his expression.

"Hello." I tried to speak, but once again, my voice wasn't working, and I couldn't help but frown at that. My voicebox just didn't seem to be working. Great, How was I supposed to actually convey what I was trying to say, with no voice, and clearly no writing impliments around for me to use?

"I heard you." Came the voice of the fire apparition, a voice which I had only heard once, as far as I knew. I blinked, feeling a slow realisation overcome me as I blinked again. Koenma, if I remember rightly, told me that this one had been keeping tabs on my thoughts, which made him a telepath?

"Hn." I heard the man shift slightly, and I looked back at him after a few moments. Why was my mind working so slow? I was usually a lot quicker at piecing together coherrent thoughts. I looked around the cave slowly, trying to find something else other than this person standing next to me that was familiar. I couldn't see where we were, and I sure as hell couldn't see Barnette. I felt pure relief overcome me at that fact – maybe she ran off in a mad fury because she didn't have anyone to tear to shreds maybe? I blinked in surprise as I heard the being next to me exhale deeply, a sense of ... distaste about the tone? It was almost like a sigh of some sort.

"That's not the last you remember, is it, onna?" I blinked in shock, almost flinching, but I managed to stop myself from doing that from the knowledge of what avalanche of pain would meet me. Feeling a frown cross my face, I nodded slightly in response. What? Had I been out of it for a week again or something?

"Not quite." I heard him speak, and I felt my frown leave my face after a few moments. What? A month? I frowned down at the blanket over my lap after a few moments, thinking on that. What the hell had I missed?

Wondering upon this piece of information, while I subconsciously waited for an answer from the fire apparition, I found myself looking over at the entrance to the cave with my blurry gaze. At first I couldnt' see anything, and for a few moments, I was content with that, but as my gaze continue to clear, my weak eyes picked up something that made no sense to me whatsoever. The form of a sleeping human met my gaze, and as I felt my breath catch in my throat, I knew for a fact that something had gone completely wrong since that mission. Kuwabara was lying on the floor of the cave, severely injured, though alive never the less. They weren't supposed to know about the mission? Yusuke would have murdered Koenma for having me as bait! I felt myself flinch from flickering pain, and as the tiniest hints of movement came to my notice, my eyes zeroed in on the reflection shining from the polished surface of what looked to be a mirror of some sort. Topaz eyes met mine, an alarming sight considering that I should have been seeing my own. Long white-blue hair hung down the face that was reflected in the mirror, and as I felt all hints of my composure fade, I felt my right hand go to the bandages around my other wrist suddenly.

_Can't trust it! See things that shouldn't exist! _I thought frantically, my eyes immediately going to my wrist as I pulled the bandages free shakily, where I saw the severely burnt skin beneath. Though the flesh was most definitely damaged beyond belief, I could still see the skin, and, as I looked down at the scars that ran down the skin I could see, I slowly closed my eyes as I forced myself to take a deep breath.

"It's been more than a few hours since we were in that ruined church, hasn't it?" I questioned shakily after several moments, ignoring the fact that my voice wasn't working.

"Hn." I heard from where Hiei was standing, and I slowly opened my eyes after a few moments, eyeing that mirror loathingly. And yet I didn't remember anything at all.

"Why don't I remember anything afterwards then?" My mute voice asked, and, I felt a curious gaze hit my back after a few moments.

"You were dead." I felt my heart almost halt at that reply, and as a flash of burning white light flickered through my mind, an image of bloody snow flickered for just a moment. Wait – what? Dead? I managed to turn to look at the fire apparition, my eyes wide as pure horror took over my whole form. I couldn't have been dead! There's no way I was dead! King Enma would have never allowed me to be brought back, would he? The fire apparition, instead of answering my frantic thoughts, merely looked away from me bitterly, and began to walk out of the cave.

"Hey! _Wait!_" I felt myself shout, though no sound escaped me, and I got no response as he just continued walking. "_You can't just tell me I died and walk off like that! That's not fair!" _I dragged myself to my feet quickly, ignoring the pain as I fought to catch up! How could he just tell me that and walk away? Why? I don't even know what the hell I am or why everyone's trying to kill me and he tells me I've already died before? "_Please! Don't leave me hanging like this! PLEASE!_"I felt my legs threaten to give way as I stumbled foreward, barely avoiding Kuwabara as I stumbled past to try and catch up to him.

"Why're you getting so upset? You know it's the truth." Came a sinister voice in the back of my head, so suddenly I was startled to a halt.

"_What?" _I exclaimed, though my voice only echoed through my head.

"You died, all alone trapped in a mirror!" That voice echoed, a stabbing tone that shot straight through my heart. "And they didn't even try to look for you! They _left _you all alone!"

"_Who are you? What do you want?" _I almost shouted, frantically looking around the cave, so quickly that I almost felt dizzy. I couldn't see anything, nor could I hear anything else!

"You know who I am." That voice spoke, more mocking than before. "Or you _did. _Doesn't matter, I'm not going anywhere." I still couldn't see anything, and I felt my knees begin to shake as my panic began to increase. Where the hell was it? It had to be here somewhere! Left right, I couldn't see anything, only I could hear sinister laughter. My knees gave way on me, and I felt my body hit the stone ground hard, sending sharp and agonising pain shooting up my already pain-stricken legs. "You spent twenty long years locked up with me! I know you!" A black silhouette up on the tiniest of ledging in front of me grabbed my attention, striking pure horror into me – a black rabbit stared down at me, its white eyes showing nothing but pure bloodlust! "I _am _you! Whether you like it or not!"

"N-n-no – You're not-"

"I watched you _die! _I watched you scream when they took your papa away all those years ago. You remember that, don't you?"

"_I don't know what you're talking about!" _I felt myself almost shout out, my heart racing as that black rabbit seemed to grow more and more blood-thirsty.

"Meia isn't even your real name! You just called yourself that to forget what your family did to you!" The voice spoke, a cool tone despite the way it spoke those words. "Your precious papa was the only one that called you that, and yet you don't even try to remember him?"

"Stop! Get out-"

"You try and try, over and over again to act like you're somebody else." Came another voice, to my right, and I felt my breath catch in my throat as I hesitantly looked over. "But you're not somebody else." Another black rabbit stood just in the shadows, within sight, and I felt my breathing completely stop as I saw more black forms from the corner of my eye.

"Admit it, you're a scared little girl that can't accept that your papa died because of _you." _

"_Stop it! Leave me alone!" _I pleaded, looking around frantically as more and more black rabbits appeared around me.

"You killed him -"

"_No! Go Away!" _I pleaded breathlessly, shrinking back from the growing number of rabbits.

"And you're going to kill the rest of them, too."

"_No more! Please! Stop!"_ I heard myself scream, and, as the whole floor became covered in blood-thirsty rabbits, I felt myself fall backwards. The back of my head hit the stone floor hard, dazing me for a few moments as my vision swam in amongst the dark black of the cave ceiling.

Silence, but for a few moments it seemed, an aching silence that struck straight through the soul.

"You're going to be responsible, even if you don't kill them yourself." The voice spoke, a fading sound that slowly began to blend into the black. "It's just a matter of when ..."


	52. Illusionary Madness

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY TWO: Illusionary Madness**_

Chains slowly shifted along the ground, an eerie sight against the mostly grey floor. The sandy beaches of a small island were moving at it's own rhythm, the water a deep cerulean while the sand reflected a grey colour up towards the crystaline trees within the island. Reflections, representing perfect replica images reflected back at all angles, creating the illusion of a thick and confusing forest as the chains trailed inwards, towards the centre of the island. The lavendar skies of a kind of dawn held eerie clouds against the sunrise, charcoal black clouds that were as unnatural as the chains along the island floor. Lines ran across the sky, almost seeming like cracks in a dome of glass, seen at certain angles, and also, a sign of problems within this strange world. The chains trailed, leading inwards to the centre of the island, where a crystaline lake was, and as the skies remained that lavendar colour, the chains slowly trailed into the lake, where they swirled around, moving deeper and deeper into the black depths.

A small, petit form remained motionless, curled up on the ground beneath a paticularly large crystaline tree, covered in thick chains and rags that appeared many years old. The chains, embedded within the form's very flesh, weighed down heavily, signs of tearing flesh evident as the form remained lying on her side, her empty, lifeless eyes upon the crystal clear surface of the lake before her. A small, tortured form, a being most familiar with torture and pain, though how long she had those injuries for, no one could really tell. The lighthouse up on the hill in the distance was still, no signs of life within the tall tower could be seen. The girl's lifeless eyes closed slowly, for a few moments, and, as her eyes opened slowly, a small, black form appeared on the edge of the lake. The form of a small black rabbit, strangely motionless, it's white eyes upon the girl before it with a kind of bloodlust that would make most grown men uncomfortable, however the girl didn't seem to notice.

A form seated within the branches of one of the reflective crystaline trees remained motionless, crimson eyes taking in the sight of the lifeless girl without evident emotion. A observent gaze, though not without thought, the form slowly looked at the black rabbit that just stared straight back at the lifeless girl. Was it the lack of life that had him curious? Or was it his knowledge of things interfering with her mental state that had him watching so intently? He very much doubted it was the second, so he was inclined to just think he was curious. That black rabbit had been staring at her like that for the past two hours, anyway.

The sounds of something like the breaking of bones echoed throughout the strange forest faintly, causing the fire apparition to look up at the sky out of confusion. The breaking sounds slowly came to a stop, and as he spotted the faint crack that was running through the sky, his eyes spotted something that was, alarming. Another crack had made its way across the sky, a thicker one than the first, and as he watched, foreboding overcoming him, the sight of the black rabbit was gone, as if it were just a figment of his imagination.

The broken sounds of thunder echoing in the distance met my strained ears, a rumbling that just made my head ache a little more than I would have preferred. The rain that I could hear falling was what made the pain in my head disipate, if only a little, and as I remained with my eyes upon the cold grey of the cave ceiling, my seemingly overstretched mind dulled down to a kind of slow thudding. The cold in the air was a pleasantry to me, I rather disliked warmth, and as I closed my eyes slowly, the sounds of approaching footsteps met my already spent hearing. I woke up like this less than a few minutes ago, and I already felt tired and overworked. Sleeping just seemed like the better option for me, what with my whole body covered in burns and gashes gallore. However, it was rather astounding how I wasn't feeling that much pain. The approaching footsteps came to a halt just next to me, causing me to slowly look up at who it was – not that it really mattered, I felt pretty certain that I'd be left here to recover some more, well, I hoped in any case.

My gaze fell upon a figure in black that for some reason I was seeing a lot more of than anyone else at the moment – though I knew that it was possible they had come in while I was unconscious or something. He seemed to be looking at me with a strange look of bitterness to his face, and I began to wonder what it was that I had done this time.

"Get up." Hiei spoke, that same condecending tone in his voice as he usually had, and I found myself wondering – why? "We're leaving."He added after no more than a moment, and I almost frowned. Lovely, I have to move. I didn't make any sign of complaints, barely managing to force myself upright, and I could feel that it would take a lot more to get back on my feet now that there wasn't something motivating me. Still not too much pain, I managed to drag myself up further, when the burning hot pain of a flash of light in my minds eye struck, causing me to fall motionless suddenly. I had to blink to try and usher that bright light away, but it didn't work, not that well anyway, and I was left with a kind of after image blurring my proper vision with shades of grey and white that made the shape of something ... humanoid?

"Onna." Came an irritated voice, causing me to almost flinch, looking at who the voice belonged to. "I'm not dragging you up." I blinked, looking down at my hand to see that he had decided to give me a little bit of help, but I must have fallen motionless because of that burning white flash in my head. I lifted myself to my feet with his help, and as soon as I was somewhat stable, I felt him almost snatch his hand away. My legs began to waver severely, but as I forced myself steady on them, the pain throughout my body became so much more intense. I took a pace forward, trying to balance the pain with my tollerance, and I saw the fire apparition turn out of irritance, and begin to walk out of the cave. I wasn't annoyed, rather, I could understand his irritation. I'd be feeling annoyed if someone I didn't necessarily like was taking their time in moving, and I had no choice but to wait patiently for them to hurry the hell up. I didn't notice the glance over at me as I forced myself another step forward, almost gasping at the pain that shot through my chest at that moment.

"So, where are we going?" I tried to ask in a conversational manner, but as yesterday, my voice didn't work, and I was left feeling not only in pain, but useless as well.

"Elsewhere." Came Hiei's voice, and I blinked as I looked up from the ground, to see him waiting over at the entrance to the cave. I suppose I had expected that answer, but for some reason, I didn't really know why. Wouldn't Koenma have a portal waiting for us or something? There was no answer, but I had expected that too, so I just made myself hobble onwards, successfully pushing the pain to the back of my mind. I followed Hiei out of the cave, feeling my feet shift against the muddy ground beneath my feet, and I almost felt all my composure leave as I felt my feet slip out from beneath me. Pure pain shot through my chest as a flash of burning light shot through my mind again, just like electric shock, and as soon as I found myself gasping from the pain, choking on something in the back of my throat, the burning flash left painful swirling patches in my vision. I tried to stand myself back on my feet, but a grip around my chest stopped me from so much as straightening up – it was all I could do to cover my mouth with my hand as I couldn't stop coughing. Okay, maybe it was a good thing that I was being kept motionless, my knees were shaking violently as well.

"What's wrong?" Came someone's panicked voice faintly, grabbing the tiniest hints of my knowledge, though I was too busy trying not to cough up a lung ... or a spleen.

"I'm fine!" I tried to speak in between coughs and gasps, but for some strange reason, not only did I know that they didn't even hear me, but I knew that they most definitely didn't care at that moment. I barely managed to force myself to silence, taking my hand from my mouth shakily as I felt the slight release of me, allowing me to straighten up slightly too. I could taste blood, and as I looked down at my hand, my suspicions were confirmed as the crimson fluids covered my hand in a thick coating. I knew I had injuries, and the main part of the pain was situated in my chest as it slowly increased, but I didn't think I was bleeding internally or anything. I kept my bloodied hand out of sight, pressing it against where the pain in my chest was – maybe the pressure would stop the pain a bit? Oh my luck has been horrible for ages, but maybe breaking all those mirrors over and over again was beginning to catch up with me?

"She doesn't look okay, can't we let her rest some more?" Came that voice again, and I felt that grip around my chest shift slightly, bringing my more or less upright so I didn't exactly crumble into the mud. An irritated growl met my somewhat faulty hearing, and as I felt someone left me up off the ground in one sweeping motion, an arm secured under my knees as the other went around my shoulders, I closed my eyes from the shock of pain shooting through my chest again. "Aww crap, she's bleeding!"

"She's fine." That irritated voice echoed, and as I heard the beginnings of an argument brewing, the being that had grip of me began to walk ahead, taking long strides to put distance between himself and who I vaguely guessed was Kuwabara, if my hearing wasn't distorting things even more.

I seemed to be carried a fair bit of late, I guessed. And it also seemed the main person carting my sorry arse everywhere was none other than the fire apparition that had begrudgingly lifted me off the ground because I was too busy hacking up a lung or two to walk at all. A cold chill ran through my whole body, almost setting me off into another coughing fit, but I managed to avoid it – just. Without any real forethought, I curled into the only source of warmth that was within ten meters of me slightly to try and stop myself from freezing. I didn't need to be looking to have seen the eye-twitch of annoyance from Hiei, and it wasn't too hard for me to realise why that was. There was being cold because of the wind alone, and there was being soaked by rain and having the ice-cold wind knocking another ten degrees off of core temperature. Unfortunately for me, I was soaked from the rain that was coming down still, and unfortunately for Hiei, he was carrying the equivalent to a giant iceblock against his chest.

I slowly opened my eyes after several moments, lifting my gaze to look up at Hiei. I couldn't really see all that much, just the underside of his chin, and the tiniest hints of his black hair poking up everywhere. I could tell from the angle that I was looking at him from, that I had my head resting against his right shoulder, I couldn't see anything in my peripheral vision asside from the black cloak that he always wore. A drop of rain hit me in the eye suddenly, causing me to flinch slightly from shock, and my eyes shut immediately from pain. Great, the rain was even going so far as to try and poke my eye out. My eyes opened again as I felt Hiei's grip of me increase slightly, causing me to look up at him again, slowly. Lifted a little higher up, I could see a little more of the fire apparition's face, seeing that he was looking straight ahead as he continued to walk. I could feel warmth beginning to return to me, a warmth that felt a little strange to me, but I knew I was without feeling to my limbs, so I was likely unable to feel anything else that would make the warmth normal. I smiled, just a fraction, and slowly let my head back to a comfortable position, and leant a little more into the fire apparitions shoulder.

"Great, so where're we going?" Came the faint voice belonging to Yusuke, but I didn't really notice much, my weak gaze upon the green grasses of the strange forest that we seemed to be within. The trees were twisted and knotted in strange ways, creating a kind of eeriness that I was unfamiliar with.

"We're heading towards the next town, where we can decide what to do next." Came the faint voice belonging to Kurama, and for some strange reason, that bitterness that I knew I had felt before that assignment, was gone. I don't know why, but I just felt, tired, for some reason. Though, if I had been dead for over a month, that might explain it? My weak gaze fell upon the sight of something small and black beneath one of the more twisted trees, causing me to blink before taking a closer look. Through the little space I could see past my knees and Hiei's chest, the form of a black rabbit remained motionless, it's white eyes upon me without a shift in gaze. I watched it, foreboding beginning to set in on me as Hiei continued to walk onwards.

"Any idea why Pacifier Breath didn't show up?" Yusuke's voice echoed.

"Well, it's possible he's on the run."

"On the run? Why?"

"Aiding in revivng Meia, for a start. I can't see King Enma letting him get away with such an act." Kurama's voice came, and I slowly lowered my gaze to my knees after a moment. For some strange reason, my name seemed to feel a little weird to me, like, it wasn't even mine. But ... I've been Meia since before I could remember, surely I'm not having doubts about my own name.

"Hiei! How's she doing?" Came Yusuke's voice,

"Hn." Came Hiei's noticeably irritated voice, causing me to blink slowly.

"Hey, Meia!" Yusuke's voice spoke, causing me to slowly look to my right, to where his voice came from. My gaze fell upon the bandaged form of Yusuke, looking down at me with a smile across his face. That was weird, I could have sworn he wasn't talking to me cause of something ... or was that something before the assignment? "How're you feeling? Not too beat up?"

"Like I've been locked in an oven." I spoke honestly, though my voice didn't work, as usual. I saw Yusuke stare at me for several moments, before he smiled sheepishly, concern hidden behind his sheepish smile – maybe so I wouldn't catch on or something?

"I hear ya." He spoke, looking over at someone over by the trees, but, my vision didn't extend that far, so I was left with blurry silhouettes. "I guess we're going then."

"Yes, better now, then later." Came Kurama's voice, and I slowly let my head rest against Hiei's shoulder again as pain flickered in the muscles of my neck. I slowly looked towards the forest again, my gaze slowly tracing the forest in front of me. A black form a bit closer than last time met my weak gaze, and I felt a little bit of the foreboding set in on me again. For some strange reason, the forest seemed to move, where Hiei did not, and I couldn't stop myself from gasping in pain as another burning flash of hot white light shocked my mind like another bout of electroshock. I couldn't tell where I was now, only that I was seeing blurry white and pale grey blurs in some strange formation, like, it was making a picture of some sort. Before I could see what it was, it faded from my minds eye, along with all memory of what the blurs were shaped like and everything. When I came back to conscious awareness, I saw that I was in another set of arms, Kurama's, and he was in the middle of what I guessed as bundling me up into a kind of blanket of sorts. I was cold, freezing cold again, and it was beginning to hurt a lot more than before.

"We'll catch up to you, we just need to wait for Kuwabara to return." Kurama's voice spoke, an informative tone, but as I felt that I was being passed back to who I could only guess was Hiei, another flash of burning light shot through my head, only this ... was more solid. A blurry sight of an elegant face smiled, a familiar face, and as the image faded, I could feel that I was curled up somewhat, and my hands were holding my head, as if my brain was threatening to explode if another of those images popped up in my head again. What was going on? It was as if these flashes that burnt like a hot iron poker was inflicted by people touching me!

"Onna." Came that serious, usually condecending voice that I knew was Hiei's, and I managed to look up at him after a couple of moments. He was looking down at me with a serious look across his face – more serious than the other looks I had ever seen him with – which were very few.

"I'm fine. It's nothing." My voiceless self spoke, and I saw him watch me intently, before frowning and looking at Kurama. I was back in Hiei's grip, and once again, my head was resting against his shoulder. I let out a breath after a few moments, my head going back to comfortable, and as I felt him begin to walk onwards, my gaze slowly shifted to my knees. I let my hands go back to my lap, wincing at the pain that shot through my chest on and off. The trees seemed to be going past so much faster than as if he was merely walking, making me feel not only dizzy, but a little ill, so I kept my gaze upon my knees, my head throbbing from the pain.

Another shot of pain shot through my head, but not a burning white hot pain. Closing my eyes to try and banish the aftershock of pain, I curled more into the being that was carrying me. I musn't become sick, or get worse, I knew I couldn't, he wouldn't stop, and I was left with spending most of my energy on keeping myself in a stable condition. I slowly opened my eyes to look at my knees again, where I saw not my knees beneath the blanket wrapped around me, but one pure black rabbit, white eyes staring straight at me, and it was situated over my knees. I didn't try to speak, or try to shoo it away, just staring straight back at it like it stared at me.

The grip around my shoulders increased, lifting me up a bit more so my forehead was resting against his neck, but I didn't notice it, consciously in any case. The rabbit just sat there, staring at me, remaining just as silent as I was.

This was going to be a long trip, and I knew I wasn't going to get any rest for a very long time.


	53. Black, White, And The Ocean Lights

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY THREE: Black, White And The Ocean Lights**_

The skies glowed an eerie purple, an energy devoid of all real life. The approaching darkness was an enigmatic scene against the calm that was the cool breeze, and through the sounds that surrounded, there was no sign of imminent danger – were we able to rest again?

I stirred slightly, slowly opening my eyes as the slight swaying of movement dragged consciousness from me. An instense weariness that I couldn't seem to move continued to press down on me, and I stifled the need to yawn as I felt that I was still in someone's grip. My weak gaze fell upon my lap before me, where a now familiar form I was certain was permanent remained, just like before, slumped over my knees, and staring up at me. Though, subconsciously, I guessed I had known it – no, she, would still be there – I didn't even flinch when I saw her. Usagi? Maybe I should call her that? I seemed to be seeing her practically everywhere I look now, anyway. I blinked slowly, feeling that I was actually nice and toasty for once, the material I was bundled in helped a lot, and as I drew my gaze up to see who it was that was carrying me, I saw the same sight as before – the underside of Hiei's chin, and the tiniest bit of the side of his face, and his hair. The skies were really dark now, for some reason, and as I felt my neck twinge from pain, I realised I must have been out of it for a while. Even though I knew Usagi was only in my head, I did wonder how she remained upon my knees like that.

I felt Hiei slow after a few moments, looking around blurrily as I ascertained that we were approaching a settlement of some sort. There were a great many buildings that reminded me of a far away place, somewhere that seemed somewhat familiar, though I couldn't seem to grasp why that was. Old buildings made of a kind of wood lined the area I could see, almost european houses, like I was in a country town in France or something, but my gut told me that I was somewhere completely different. Though, it looked familiar, and I could feel my stomach squirming. Maybe I was starting to feel sick, as well as pained as hell. Obviously I didn't manage to stop myself from becoming sick. There seemed to be a full moon out, even though the skies were quickly fading to a midnight blue, I could still see the faint silhouettes of things bathed in an intense moonlight. The scent of the ocean came to my notice, faintly, but it was there, and I felt myself become a little more aware – the scent of the ocean, I hadn't smelt such a scent in so many years!

_Where were we?_ I wondered, looking around a little more as I tried to distinguish what was building, and what was nature. There were many lights on in the settlement, and I guessed Hiei was merely walking now – the forest wasn't moving that fast at all.

"A village along the coast, far to the south." Came Hiei's voice, causing me to look back up at him again, slowly, so my neck wouldn't protest again. I blinked slowly. Thinking on that for a few moments. I didn't exactly recall any coastal settlements like this to the south japan. They were all kinda asian, asside from Australia, where everyone lived in houses that looked a lot like boxes, and some in strange shapes. "Not in _your _world." I blinked at that, thinking on it for a few moments. Why did he have to say it like he wasn't – oh, wait, he _wasn't _from earth, as far as I knew anyway.

"So, that would make this, what? Your world?" My voiceless self asked, my eyes still upon Hiei as he clearly frowned, the tiniest parts of his face that I could see shifted noticeably.

"Hn."

"So, are we stopping here for a while?" I asked curiously, beginning to wonder what my voice was going to sound like when I got it back. I was beginning to forget what I sounded like before. There was no response, and I felt myself frown as I let my head back against his shoulder again. The faint sounds of fiddles echoed throughout the area, an upbeat tune that seemed to keep me awake, despite the fact that I could feel my eyelids drooping again. I began to wonder, where was Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara? I vaguely remembered hearing someone say they were just waiting for Kuwabara to get back. I didn't hear any comment, or even any sign of response from Hiei, causing me to slowly relax – it looked like there was nothing to worry about, so why was I going to bother now?

The lights from the settlement turned out to be a kind of lanturn system, huge spheres housing a glowing rock each hung from poles along the edge of the path we seemed to be following, an interesting lighting system, I'd never seen light coming from a simple rock before. The buildings of the settlement most definitely seemed very familiar to me, far too familiar, I think I knew it from somewhere, but I couldn't be sure about it. Suppose, I had better forget about it, wracking my already mostly splattered brain was not going to help in the long run.

A huge fire lit the centre of the settlement, a huge, roaring fire that screamed festival to me, but all there was around the fire, were three beings that looked human enough, to me anyway. They were kinda like fishermen, all wearing fishing waders and woven sandles. Two of them were in their mid-thirties by sights, and the other, a young man that looked no older than twenty. None of them looked over, their eyes upon the fishing net in their grip as they rewove the net properly so that, presumably, the strings didn't break so easily? I watched them as close as I could, curiosity that I could not stamp out keeping me from just ignoring them as Hiei seemed to walk past what looked like an inn of some sort, and down a path that lead straight through to the far reaches of the village. Okay, so we weren't going to the inn. So where were we going?

"Where exactly are we going? I thought the others were going to catch up?" I tried to speak, but like before, my voice just refused to work. There was no response from Hiei, which caused me to frown slightly, but I took that as a hint to shut up. The sounds of the fiddle were still in the air, but I couldn't locate anyone that had such an instrument. Where was it coming from? It was quite moving, I could almost feel myself about to start moving in time with the tune, but I already knew that I was motionless, I would have felt the flickering of pain if I was moving even the slightest. I could see the coast from where I was, a broad expanse of water that reached far beyond the eye could see, black water due to the lack of light. The sandy beaches that lined the coast were speckled with seaweed, dead seeweed that looked akin to a kind of deathly plant. It looked, familiar somehow, but I couldn't exactly pin why that was. This whole place seemed familiar somehow.

I felt my head flicker in pain slightly, a thrumming pain that matched the pulsing of blood more than anything else, but it was slight. My gaze traced the edge of the ocean as the ever-silent Hiei continued onwards. Little fishing boats lined the sandy beaches, boats that had aged well, and some that had aged too far, and fallen to pieces. There was no moon, no stars even, and as I tilted my head up to look at the treetops of the trees that lined the very coast, the faintest hints of clouds above met my notice. My eyelids began to become heavy on me, and I almost couldn't stop myself from yawning slightly. It seemed like my ability to remain awake was in tatters now, and I wasn't looking forward to having the consciousness span of a two month old infant.

As my eyes drooped shut slowly, I felt the cold breeze pick up slightly, bringing with it the salty scent of the coastal lands. It didn't even seem to bother me anymore, that I had been awake for no more than twenty minutes, and already clonking out. I'll just have to work on that next time.

Silver – the colour of the lands around, a dull silence ringing throughout the whole area. The familiar sight of chains lined the area, moving ever so slowly, like the slow pulse of the land itself. The trees reflected each other back and forth, an everlasting paradox of reflections within reflections, the true definition of a lost wood. The skies above were no longer a smooth lavendar, speckled with lines of black and silver here and there, and yet there were no stars above. The lighthouse on the fartherest part of the island was still motionless, no light shining out, and no hint of life within the motionless signal house. The lake was just as still as before, nothing disturbing the errie silence to say the least.

The form of a young woman shifted slightly within the area around the lake, her long hair hanging down over the ground limply. Her form remained motionless after that, lying on her side along the very edge of the lake. The crystal and undisturbed lake in front of her reflected the skies and forest perfectly, as if one was staring at a mirror, instead of a body of water. A small form was reflected back at the young woman, lying exactly the same way as the young woman, and looked quite close in appearances. The form within the lake neither had wings nor the features that signified that she wasn't human, however, the injury through the chest and the chains embedded within her form were exactly the same. The empty look that both the young woman and the reflection shared showed nothing but a mental emptiness that was not a mere part of lack of thought. It was a sickly emptiness that wasn't healthy, nor was it a sign of anything normal.

The young woman's hand fell from her chest after a few moments, as both her and her reflections eyes closed. Her hand fell into the water of the lake, however the water remained as undisturbed as if she had never touched it at all. The water remained motionless, as did the rest of the forest. The water didn't feel like water, and as she remained almost unconscious, her hand beneath the surface was, instead of covered in hair-line scars all over, was a clear, lilly white colour of an unscathed human.

The water didn't feel like water, almost like … it was nothing but thin air beneath the perfectly reflective surface.


	54. Dance With Night Wind

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry for the late addition to TFOB chapter list. I have this one for you all, and it's longer than the usual 3,000 words that my others usually are. Anyway. I hope you all enjoy it, and please, let me know what you think of my writing.

Have a good day, Jozei~

_****_

-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-

_**CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR: Dance With Night Wind**_

The faint sounds of waves splashing against the shore filtered in through the air as the immense cold from a lack of ability to keep oneself warm sunk in through the flesh. The sharp pains shot through my chest like someone had gone and poked a skewer through the gashes that I knew were in my chest. I slowly opened my eyes as the pain of the cold forced me to stay awake, and I could feel that I wasn't exactly ready to be awake, for some reason.

Nothing met my vision at first, the empty colour of a mild grey tone came to sight first, then, it was the colours that was reminiscent of an old and worn down house of some sort – it was more of a brown than anything else, and I found myself sooner thinking that I was in some old house that wasn't looked after than the fact that I was even indoors. I blinked slowly, trying to work the slumber out of me as I let out a weary breath. Another rest without any dreams. It seemed I was making a habit of it, and I was glad for it. I didn't need anymore dreams on top of everything. The sounds of the ocean outside came to my weary notice after several moments, and I let my head tilt to the right slightly as the tiniest hints of confusion met my weary thoughts. Now that I thought about it, where was I? I could have sworn we were in some kind of settlement that screamed some kind of suspicious trouble. To my right, there was nothing but a greyish brown wall, and, as I tilted my head to the left, all I could really see was an empty room, old floorboards coming to my notice first over the sight of the door that was in the wall on the far side of the room.

Lifting myself upright, I could feel a kind of dull throbbing in the back of my head, and though the pain in my chest was intense, I couldn't really feel anything else for some reason. I was on my own for some reason, I didn't know why, but it was a little, odd. I guessed there was someone in the next room, it was the only thing that made sense to me. I slowly swung my legs over the edge of what turned out to be a bed, and a strangely comfortable one at that, but as I looked down at my feet slowly, I noticed for the first time in all of my time being conscious, was that I didn't have anything descent on me – about all that was left of my clothes, was a very, very tattered singlet that didn't even appear to be mine in the first place, and the remains of my jeans, which were so badly torn and worn down, that the only remaining pieces, were a few shreds down the sides of my legs, and remarkably enough where it looked like I was wearing a terrible excuse for a pair of short shorts. I slowly lifted myself to my feet, feeling myself waver, and though I didn't feel very much pain at all, I most definitely felt how hard it was for me to walk at that moment.

I didn't know where I was, nor was I willing to just let myself be comfortable when I could be in some very strange place where I was probably going to get myself killed. Stepping over to the door carefully, I slowly opened it, making sure that I didn't make any audiable sound in the least. Peeking through the gap in the door that I made, I spotted someone that looked familiar, and they weren't the least bit aware of my consciousness. The form of a ginger-haired man was slumped over a worn table came to my sight, a little to the left of the doorway, and as I watched him, I could feel a little bit of a frown cross my face as I noticed that not only was he not aware of anything, he wasn't even awake – I could hear his snoring now that the door was open a bit. Shaking my head, I slowly closed the door and turned back to the room before me. Trust Kuwabara of all people to be slumped over a table and snoring his head off like that. Letting out a breath, I slowly looked around the room again, now that I was up and about. A small little stool that was previously out of my range of vision came to my notice, sitting next to the bed I had been sleeping in, and as I blinked, I could feel relief overcoming me, slowly. Even though it was put there rather untidily – almost tossed on the stool – I could tell that it was a set of clothes – and not only that, they were warm clothes. Hurray! I was having enough of this cold wind.

Stepping over quickly to examine the clothes that I pretty much knew were for me, I picked them up to examine them. They most certainly weren't my style of clothes, but I really wasn't going to complain to say the least! The clothes were a heavy tunic-top the colour of a deep turquoise blue, a pair of black pants, also made of a thick and heavy material, and, as I picked up the last item, I noticed that it was a kind of traveling cloak, a deep navy blue, and even though it didn't have any sleeves, it most certainly was made to keep oneself warm. I was thankful, and as I looked down at the pants again, I could see the tiniest form of footwear below. A pair of almost slipper-like shoes were situated a little out of sight, a pair of black slip-on shoes that looked like they would keep in a lot of warmth, and as I looked at all the warm clothes, I couldn't help but shudder from the cold that was about. Deciding that I was freezing too much to be standing there staring at warm clothes, I decided to slip myself into the clothes. Strangely enough, they even fit me well – the tunic top even seemed to match my figure, and the black pants weren't baggy, they were almost a skin-tight fit, though they didn't look bad on me, they most definitely brought out the lack of flesh on my bones.

Securing the cloak over me, I looked down at the shoes slowly, looking around for some kind of hint as to where the others were – I was with Hiei, and Kurama and Yusuke said they were with Kuwabara, before we left anyway. I couldn't hear anyone, and my gut told me that there was no one else here. I guessed, if they were fine enough with leaving Kuwabara here alone to look after me, there was probably nothing to really worry about – I wasn't stupid. From the fact that we just didn't go back to Spirit World when I woke up told me that there was a lot wrong, and overhearing Kurama say that he assumed Koenma to be on the run, I had more than enough evidence, for myself, to accept that there was something seriously wrong. I decided, a short walk would probably do me some good – I hadn't stretched my legs properly, and the weariness from being asleep for many hours too many was thick and heavy over my conscious self. It would be better for me to take this chance to stretch my legs, at my own pace.

Slipping the shoes on quickly, I stepped over to the door again, letting myself out quietly as I looked around the next room slowly. An empty room that held nothing of interest met my gaze, which brought me to look towards the door on the wall to the far left. Deciding it would be better to slip out before Kuwabara awoke, I moved quickly, but quietly, trying hard not to be spotted before I was gone. I guessed I was still in a town of sorts, I couldn't seem to shake the feeling that there were people everywhere, though I could make myself believe that I knew practically no one here – that was easy. The area around the building that I was inside, was a coastal area, where the scent didn't quite match the coastal areas I was used to back in my old life. My gaze traced the sandy beach slowly as I walked onto the sand, trailing to a village that stood a bit to my right. I couldn't pick up on anything that was suspicious, or just screamed to me 'Don't Go!', so I started to walk over towards the village – maybe since I was in more normal clothes, other than the rags I had been wearing before, I didn't stand out anywhere near as much.

My feet began to take me towards the village slowly, a slow pace so that my legs didn't crumble beneath me – I remember the last time I tried to walk. I felt like I needed something to drink – I couldn't remember the last time I had anything to drink, or even eat. My stomach almost seemed to stir into life – it churned suddenly, like I had been starved for more than a few days – which definitely coincided with the idea that was in the back of my mind, at me not having anything to eat or drink for more than a week. I looked at the water of the ocean after a few moments, mentally gauging out whether it was wise or not to take my chances with ocean water – I knew salt water just made one more thirsty, and that the salt would dehydrate oneself. I decided, after a few moments, that it would be wiser for me to find a flowing stream of sorts a little inwards – the trees around here spoke of fresh water somewhere near, so I decided to wait until I found something. The village was quiet – a bit. There were people around the huge campfire in the centre of the settlement, a few, and as I looked around slowly, I noticed that they weren't human at all – a gut feeling told me they were more like Hiei than other demons I had met in my little time in contact with them. They just seemed, the kind that cared about themselves, and no one else. I did begin to wonder about where Yukina was from though, as I wandered around the little village slowly. She was clearly not human, but she was most definitely different from these beings.

I could feel eyes upon me, but I guessed that to be a natural thing with wandering into another village – this place seemed clicky, and more than anything, the kind that didn't like outsiders – which I most certainly was. It made sense though – I wasn't in human or spirit world, and I was more than certain that demon kind were the sort to not appreciate visitors. An unknown being as myself would not be welcome, though I was grateful that they weren't going out of their way to throw me out. Making my way past that huge campfire in the centre of the settlement, I chose to head over towards the huge forest out of curiosity. For some strange reason, I could feel a pulling at my insides from being in this place, and it was beginning to confuse me. I had never been here in my life, so why was I having feelings of Deja Vu?

There were lanterns, every five or so meters away from the next, and they ran down all the roads that went out towards the other parts of the land. There was still a full moon out, I could see it above, but for some strange reason, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not – it meant I could see where I was going, but some foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise. I put it aside after a few moments – they had left Kuwabara to keep an eye on me, _Kuwabara_, so looking at that, there really shouldn't be all that much to worry about. If there was something to worry about, they'd have left Kurama, or even Hiei – And I frowned at that thought. I had been with Hiei ever since I woke up the first time in that cave, Hiei only, and I was beginning to wonder, why? Not that I had a problem with the man, it was just, why? I liked having Yusuke to talk to, and Kurama was alright, I wasn't mad with him anymore.

My feet were somehow doing the deciding of where I was going, causing me to frown slightly as I found I had already gotten to the outskirts of the settlement in a matter of four or five thoughts, so, I decided it would be better for me to pay attention now. There were still lanterns, and there was still the cobbled path ahead of me, though there wasn't really any great number of houses this way. I could see the faint hints of something up on the hill around a hundred meters or so ahead of me, kinda like some kind of mansion of sorts – which was weird, this settlement screamed nothing but small in every which way. I decided, there was no harm in walking past, though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be going much further, I had to be rational – I didn't know this place, so it wouldn't be smart to walk all that far away, especially since I gathered from the very few things I had heard, that we were on the run or something. There didn't seem to be anything at all as I walked down the path that indeed, lead towards what was in fact a really, really large house, and that foreboding feeling in my gut was growing so strong, it was amazing I wasn't listening to it. It had been a little while since the eyes on my back had disappeared, and I was feeling a little relief from that.

The lanterns had slowly stopped trailing along the edge of the path I was taking, and I was left with navigating with the moonlight that seemed to shine too brightly to be normal – but I had to remind myself that I wasn't in japan! The huge building that I had spotted from all the way back on the edge of the settlement was indeed a mansion of some sort, though it most definitely didn't look like anyone lived in it, and my stomach told me that this was probably the case. I looked around slowly, taking in the visualality of the place around me. Once again, I could feel the heavy feeling of a kind of deja vu, but I knew it in myself that I had seen this place before. Just, the way the trees grew along the edges of the mansion, how the mansion itself looked like it came from a very european background. The bottom half of the first floor was cobbled in a greyish blue stone, and the rest of the house was a worn brown. It could have possibly been a warm ember colour? Or some other colour of warmth. The windows were an ornamentally built sort – smoked glass squares held in place by twirling brown wood that was shaped to look like the trailing branches of a small tree. Some windows were broken though, revealing the inside of house to be dark.

I should have begin to walk back to town, that foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach was so strong that in all honesty, anyone would have decided to just ditch curiosity and just go back to where familiar people were. But, of course, I was intrigued more than driven to head back, like it was _me _that was causing all these bad things to happen to me. I could hear my subconscious screaming at me to turn around as I slowly stepped up the three cobbled steps to the front door. I slowly opened the door, trying as hard as I could to be silent – afterall, even though my stomach told me no one lived here, there was just that underlying knowledge of my luck at this current moment, to count on something having been here until just this evening. Or they could be close by, I wasn't sure.

The room that greeted me was full of nothing but darkness, no dust, and no cobwebs as far as I could tell. While I couldn't see anything that really meant anything, I knew that I should probably have a proper look around, since I was already inside, and there was no real sense in making myself walk in here and turn straight back and head into the settlement now, was there? But I didn't have anything that I could use as a torch, or anything that could help – those lanterns were welded into the actual posts they were hanging from, so there was no real point in trying to pull it off. I stared at the darkness before me for several moments, taking a deep breath as I considered my options. Something had changed, I couldn't be sure of what, but, it was something that took me to come trecking on my own like this. I didn't feel the same as before, when I was in that house with my freedom freshly reinstated. This was, a kind of weary air, like I had lived a long time in limbo, or something of the sort, though I couldn't remember anything that would signafy why that was.

I took in a breath slowly after several moments, my mind trailing back to one of my few lessons back in the human world, that I didn't see any use in, but at this moment, there was a lot of use to it. Lifting my right arm, I held my hand with the palm open, and facing upwards in front of me. Keeping that breath in carefully, I closed my eyes slowly, and concentrated hard. I couldn't quite remember who taught me this one, only that I believed them to be insane at that point. How wrong I was. I waited a few moments, then, as I exhaled deeply, the sensations of an icy cold lines ran through my body, starting from the centre of my chest, and outwards into the palm of my hand I had open in front of me. I looked at my hand after several moments, to see one shaky, but somewhat descently formed orb of cerulean blue energy hovering about an inch above the palm of my hand. This was somewhat better than the last time I had tried this, the last time it was flickering so badly it resembled more of a dying candle than an orb of energy. It must have been Genkai that made me learn this – the only thing she taught me, if I recalled correctly.

Stepping forward slowly, the room began to come into view with the aid of the more improved source of light. I could feel my stomach squirming the further into this strange mansion I moved, and as the door closed behind me, I felt my heart skip a beat from the loud clang that echoed loudly through the huge mansion. Okay, so far so good, nothing's leaping out at me – I'd like to keep it this way. Slowly, I began to step forward, looking around the huge room I had found myself in. It was an expanding room, much like a foyer, and though the marble floor was smashed in some places, and most of it covered in dust and debris, I could see from the little light my orb of power was making, that this room must have looked beautiful at one point in it's past – No, my gut told me that I _knew _it was beautiful in the past. Four doors lead away from the foyer I was in, one at the top of the stairs straight ahead of me, and the other three situated around the foyer at my level. I decided with the door to my right, looking around cautiously as I moved to enter through the mentioned door. I wasn't liking the prospect of staying here too long, but my curiosity, and that damned Deja vu that hadn't left me since we had come to this settlement was going to kill me. _Why _was I feeling nothing but Deja Vu? I'd never been here before!

The door opened with a little effort, the smallest motion sending clouds of dust straight into my face. Though I didn't close my eyes, I most definitely squinted against the cloud of dust. A silhouette stood before me, unmoving, however, most definitely not a part of the obscure mansion setting. Holding the orb of light higher to see more of the room, I could only make out one thing that made my blood turn to ice.

It was a humanoid form hanging from the ceiling straight ahead, it's form hanging between myself, and a window that was emitting more light than I thought it should. A rope was tied around their neck, a noose that held the form suspended from the beams in the ceiling. The form had long since been deceased, there was only a skeleton left, old clothes hanging from the body like rags. The source of light in the palm of my hand was shaking violently, I felt like I was going to be sick, however, I was barely managing to contain it. I had never seen someome die before, let alone seing someone already dead. There was no stench of death, so it must have been a very long time since this being – this person hanging before me, had killed themselves. The skeleton's head was slanted with the way the tight rope had been put around their neck, the black hollows sending shivers down my spine, as if those empty sockets were staright straight into my own eyes.

Taking a deep breath, I managed to force the nausea into submission. I held myself straight, forcing the tremmors out of my body as I forced myself to look at the room around the skeleton.

"It's only a skeleton. it's not like it's someone you know hanging there…" I felt myself speak, however, unlike to how I had gotten used to having nothing leave my lips, a faint, almost rasping voice that was so unlike my own escaped, and I almost scared myself into thinking it was someone standing next to me. I blinked, trying really hard to calm down, to try and make sense of what I had wandered into. My voice was seeming to be coming back, thank god, but, if there was someone in the mansion with me, they were bound to have heard me. I couldn't seem to force that sickening feeling of nausea from my system, nor could I force that disgusting feeling of Deja vu away either. I shook my head quickly, practically tearing myself out of my frozen position to leave the room in it's entirity – anymore of staring at this almost terrifying skeleton of someone so miserable they'd take their own life was going to drive me insane, if I didn't throw up first. I turned back to the huge foyer, deciding I had better leave now before my nerves killed me.

Something much like a whisper echoed faintly through the still air over my shoulder, causing me to fall dead motionless instantly. My heart had skipped a beat, a cold, throbbing pain against my chest mingled in with the nausea and mess of other sensations that were most definitely too much for me at that moment. I know I heard something, there was no way my messed up self was imagining _that!_ The faintest sounds of a slow creaking behind me echoed, so faintly that if I hadn't fallen motionless, and if I was breathing at that moment, I would have missed it. And oh god how I wish I had missed it! Not daring to take a breath, I slowly turned to look back into the room with the skeleton, wishing for dear life that there was no one there.

It was immediately that I noticed what had made that noise, that creaking noise that signified movement within the silent house. All I could see was that skeleton, it's skull angled downwards now, and it's long, skeletal arm extended, pointing to the cabinet to it's right, as if reaching for something.


	55. Final Sky

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]- **_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE: Final Sky**_

The pale light went out, the flickering blue flame extinguished, and my hands clutched at my chest where my heart was. There was so much pain, so much of it that I was almost certain I was having a cardiac arrest. It was so hard to breathe too – I knew I hadn't been breathing for a minute at least. I couldn't see straight either, and my whole form was shaking violently – I was surprised my legs were still supporting my own weight. I could still see that silhouette, which wasn't helping! Every time I would seem to catch my composure, just for a fraction of a second, and that image of the skeleton when I turned around snatched it straight back out of my grip. My back was against a wall, a cold, stone wall that shot pain through my remaining injuries and highlighted the stress I was suffering from. The sounds of my own heart beating were a loud, dull drumming against the back of my mind, the deafening sound blocking all other sounds from my conscious notice.

I didn't know where I was in this mansion anymore – my body moved before my mind could reassemble itself, and, as I remain slumped against a wall, trying to catch my breath, I was lost. I was still within the cold walls of the mansion, but, it's bigger than it looks on the outside. I forced myself to open my eyes and stare up at the ceiling as I almost made myself begin to breathe at least somewhat properly. The pain in my chest was ever so slowly disappearing, but, it was enough for me to try and gather my bearings of where I had ended up. Why, why, _why _did I have to run away from that skeleton – yeah, it was as creepy as hell, and the one thing I wanted most was to be away from it, but that whole, skeleton had moved and was freaking _pointing _at the cabinet was a figment of my warped imagination – it had to be! Skeletons just don't suddenly decide 'hey, I'm gonna give you a hint as to what to ransack first of all', especially one as decayed as that one was.

I took a very deep breath, managing to stop at least a little of the trembling my body was making, and as I looked around the room slowly, I noticed one crucial point – there were no windows, and no obvious doors. Where on earth – no, very bad pun – where on demon world had I ended up now? My little wander down Deja vu lane had just ended in me becoming critically lost, and there was no hope in hell of me finding my way back before someone got back to the building I had awoken within. If I knew my luck well enough, they had gotten back barely a minute after I had left, scoured the settlement in it's entirity, and are in the middle of checking the bottom of the ocean – cause of course, out of habit and in normal situations, Kuwabara knew that would be the first place to look for me.

I looked to my right slowly, my eyes taking in the strangeness of the room I was actually within. It was a huge, circular room around Twenty meters in diameter. The walls and floor were a dusty grey, mixed with the darker shades of grey that were what looked to be old paintings, mostly obscured by dust and grime alike. The plan was to get out of this mansion, but, the paintings were something that would most definitely either make my questions more pronounced, or actually answer them, depending on my luck. Or I wouldn't see anything in them and decide to move on back to the settlement. I pushed myself away from the wall carefully after a few moments, immediately stumbling as I found I had pulled a muscle or two in my legs from all that running – my legs shook with the effort of supporting my weight without the walls support, and I very nearly crumbled to the ground.

"I should have stayed in that bed and actually had a proper night's sleep!" I spoke faintly, my breath catching in my throat as I managed to drag myself upright against the strain of my body's protest. Stepping slowly, I forced myself to walk towards the furtherest painting. I at least wanted to see something else other than that freaky skeleton – And, once again, I felt myself almost flinch at the image of that Skeleton in my head, and I almost tripped over my own feet in turn. I really had to stop thinking like this, I was going to end up killing myself, if these people chasing me down didn't! I ignored the hollow thrumming of the floor beneath my feet, my unfocused gaze upon the painting in front of me that seemed familiar for some reason. The painting was a portrait of two beings, one, appearing to be a woman of sorts, the other, a small child.

I could feel my stomach's churning become worse and worse, but I could only guess that I was reaching my limit in here – that was until I felt my gut wrench, and I realised exactly why this painting was so familiar to me. Two beings, an elegant, beautifully dark haired woman stood, cold eyes staring ahead as the young girl of silver features gloated, eager to be seen and heard by anyone and everyone – only one thing was missing from this painting, and that was the maltreated, sickly young girl that was the other's twin; Me.

"No way ..." I spoke, looking around the room towards the other paintings, only seeing the faintest hints of forms in the others, that I somehow knew were of these two in the painting – the cold woman that seemed always displeased and disappointed, and the young girl that screamed for attention wherever she looked – nothing else! Why nothing else? Was there nothing else more important than the self-important two that I felt the most desperate need to eradicate from my memories! And why the hell did I need to erase them like that? What was so wrong with them that my subconscious self was needing them removed from existence?

"You should be dead." Came a faint voice, so suddenly, and so forcefully that I flinched. Whirling around to try and locate the voice, I felt my knees almost give out beneath me from the speed I moved. Squinting frantically through the dark, I tried to find just one hint of the voice's posessor, but, there was nothing, just the black that was the darkness in the room with me.

"Who's there?" I demanded, training my shaky gaze to spot anything that wasn't cold grey stone or just the black of the night-lit room. "Answer me!" Silence – nothing greeted me, making me wonder if I had even heard that voice in the first place. I felt my shaky legs begin to grow a little more stable, allowing me to slowly move away from the painting – if there was something in here, I was certain the moment I made a sudden movement, I was dead. The hollow thrumming of the floor beneath me was absent, instead, I could hear the sounds of something much like glass cracking beneath my feet. I almost felt my heart drop down into my stomach, slowly stabolising my weight between my feet as I hesitantly looked down. Long white lines were making their way across the glass, originating from right beneath my feet, and beyond the cracks in what was clearly a glass floor, was nothing but the pitch black of nothingness. I could hear the sounds of scratching too, mixed in with the cracking of the glass, adding more foreboding on top of my already cursing situation. I placed my weight on my right foot slowly, edging my way back to the solid floor that ran along the very edge of this messed up room. I lifted nearly all my weight off of my left foot after a moment, where I felt the glass beneath my right foot suddenly smash beneath me, sending me hurdling down towards the depths of the darkness beneath me.

Pain shot up my leg, searing pain as I felt my chest hit something hard mid-way through falling, knocking the wind out of me – though not enough for me to miss latching onto the only solid ledge at that moment. A high-pitch ringing echoed loudly, almost deafening, and as I fought to clamber up on the only ledge I knew of at that moment, my body shook with the effort of breathing through the solid hit to my chest. I could feel that my right leg was completely soaked for some reason – maybe I was so startled that I didn't feel that there was water below when the glass gave way beneath me? That scratching sound was still there, but louder this time, cutting through the high-pitch ringing that was still echoing throughout this very room. I looked around blindly, the thudding of my racing heart almost seeming to halt as I realised what that scratching actually was – Just in time to hear a sudden crashing, then, more glass smash from the other side of the huge room.

Another high-pitched scream rung throughout the room, this one sounding inhuman, and it sounded ferocious – bloodshed was imminent. I could see the faintest hints of a huge hulking silhouette slumped over on the other side of the room – maybe it had fallen due to the breaking floor? I was suddenly ironically glad for the stupid idiot's decision to have a glass floor, managing to drag myself out of the glass and up onto the line of solid stone floor that actually ran through the middle of the room, a meter wide – just wide enough to walk without wavering if my legs would actually work for me! Both my feet touched line of stable stone floor, my eyes immediately going to where the silhouette was – where ther was nothing, just the empty highlights of the stone walls. Did it come out of the floor? Or did it smash up a wall or something? I tried scanning the room for the huge figure that I knew for a fact was still here – I could hear the scratching of movement still. I looked up while both my head and gut screamed for me to look down, and, as I feared – it wasn't above me. My blood tured to ice as my hearing located where the scratching sounds were coming from – it was coming from beneath my feet. I fought not to let out a squeak, or to shudder, my wide eyes scanning the walls feebily for the exit – the door that I knew I had come through!

One door came to my feeble notice – far to my right, the hole in the glass I had almost fallen through between me and the door. I carefully gauged the distance between the door and myself, taking into consideration that I could only see very little. I had to be careful – I ascertained from the fact that I wasn't actually dead yet, that the creature I could hear grunting in a derranged manner beneath my very feet was one that worked with sound – that first high-pitched scream was most likely me, which likely attracted the creature, bringing me to where I was now – stuck. _Very _quietly, and slowly, I took a deep breath, trying so hard not to make a wrong move – it knew I was here, a live meal, and It would react as soon as I make a move. Before I so much as let out that breath I took, I threw myself forward, managing to leap the three meters to the door that was, to my fortune, wide open, as if it had been waiting for me to close it the whole time. Before my feet had so much as landed on the lip of the doorway, a deafening crash echoed, glass and stone alike smashing in the creatures wake as a blood-curdling roar screamed throughout the whole area. Not counting my blessings, I ignored the searing pain in my whole body as I forced myself to run as fast as I could – this time my life depended on it, no matter how little there was for me to look forward to now.

Shrieking followed me as I ran, my breathing ragged as I fought to keep my slashed up leg working, my wild eyes scanning for the next door – the way out, I didn't care where as long as this monster didn't catch me! My foot slipped from beneath me – but I managed to catch myself before I fell flat on my face. The crashing followed me, as the shrieking – louder still, the monster was on my tail, and closing distance. I managed to turn to the left at a doorway I vaguely recognised, finding myself in one long hallway. The smashing of the walls and door behind me echoed with volume, and I could feel the ground shaking as I fought to run – why the hell was I always running? Oh, right, I got fuck-all training before I ended up either comatose, or something before waking up in the Makai! I'm gonna get myself killed if I so much as slow down to somehow fight back with no knowledge of hand-to-hand combat!

A sudden strike to my side hit me hard – so hard in fact that all I saw was a blinding hot-white flash of light before I smashed through a wall to the right, and to the floor of what I could guess was several meters further. I was winded, that hot-white light still swimming in my vision as I fought to get a grip on myself. There was now pain in my left side – so much pain it was amazing I could still feel the gashes in my leg at that moment. I could feel blood pouring down my side as I dragged myself to my knees, my form shuddering from the pain as I managed to see through the swimming light in my vision. That derranged grunting was getting louder, and as I saw a huge, beast-like silhouette begin to force itself through the smaller hole in the wall that was made by me, I knew my death was imminent. Usually one of the Spirit Detectives leapt in to save me, no, every time it was one of them, and most of the time, it was the Fire apparition I had only just started to notice. Hiei, it was always him that saved me, nearly every single time – and he wasn't here, he wasn't within twenty kilometers of this place! I was alone, and if I was going to be happy with how hard I tried to save my own skin, I had to at least inflict injury upon this monster in equality. I was going to die, but I was sure as hell going to make sure this monstrocity before me remembered _working _for this meal for the rest of it's derranged life!

No weapon, no abilities – I was going to have to use all means to fight back. One of my hands went to the floor before me to stop me from falling forward, the sounds of rubble shifting beneath me echoing loud within this strange room. My hand closed around something that felt much like a stick beneath me, and as I watched the monster straighten up in this room, I forced myself to my feet shakily. A stick was better than using my nails and teeth to inflict injury, and I was going to try it. I lifted it from the ground as a blood-curdling roar shot throughout the room, a deafening volume loud enough to temporarily deafen me. Hot white flashes shot in my vision, flashes that weren't side-effects of the crashing through the wall – Was that a huge shadow impaled on a spike?

Thundering footsteps turned to a uneven gallop, dragging my attention from the flashes of white to the problem at hand. The monster was charging now, and, as I fortified my resolve, I used the only other trick I picked up through my two-week training sessions back in the human world. Sending all warmth from my fbody through my hands at will, the ice-cold sensations from before overcame me within an instance, my stick that I had picked up beginning to glow a translucent ice-blue. I heard Genkai speak of only one person that used this kind of trick.

Four meters away, the monster launched itself at me, its arms I could now see as skeletal limbs with claws that were greatly dispropotioned from it's body were outstretched, reaching for my throat as I held the stick to my side, like a kind of spear. I barely had time to blink before my body instinctively stepped forward, the huge stick in my grip piercing flesh as I thrust it forward. Blood-curding screams rung throughout the room as the stick shook violently, and I fought to keep my grip of it as claws swung, lashing towards my face. My feet slid beneath me, the blood pouring from both my leg and my side aiding in my defeat as I tried as hard as I could to keep the creature at a distance. My eyes were shut out of instinct, the cold that was engulfing my form becoming more and more intense as the stick in my grip for some reason felt like burning coals.

The shrieking slowly stopped, along with the shaking of the stick I had my grip of, causing me to open my eyes. Ice was forming from the place of impailment on the creature, already engulfing the monster from the centre of it's chest. Blood gushed from it's mouth set in a gaunt face, a humanoid face despite the monstrous body of a reptillian insect of sorts. I couldn't hear any sort of breathing, and though my head told me it was dead, I couldn't seem to shake off that foreboding feeling that told me I wasn't out of trouble yet.

All of a sudden, as I began to comprehend the fact that I was still alive, the ground beneath my feet shuddered, my insides turning to jelly as I realised why I was still feeling like something was going to kill me. Before I could so much as blink, the ground beneath me collapsed, the darkness below engulfing everything in it's wake.


	56. Creation Of The Oceanborn

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY SIX: Creation Of The Oceanborn**_

The darkness engulfed everything in it's wake, an emptiness full of despair. The scent of blood was thick through the air, fresh blood – the scent of stagnant water stood no chance against the scent of blood from a child. The air was heavy with a stifling damp, and with it, the cold of winter. No light shone within the cold dark, and no apparent signs of life echoed within the depths. The faint dripping of water echoed fainlty within the far reaches of what appeared to be a large basement, one made of a dense material for walling by the sounds of the continuing echoes. Footsteps echoed from above, faint footsteps that seemed more calculated than natural, and despite the lack of apparent life, the expanses above held nothing but life.

A door from above opened suddenly, and the first hints of light broke through the darkness to illuminate the space below. A set of stone stairs were situated in the far reaches of the basement, tall stairs that showed the height of the basement. The whole area was a cold stone, walls, floor, and even the ceiling, a cold room with nothing within it. The stairs came down to a flat landing, a raised stone path three meters wide leading to the darker parts of the basement. On either side of the path, the floor dropped down approximately half a meter, where the trickling of water flowed through the grates at either end of the basement – an underground stream of fresh water would usually flow through, fresh enough for most to drink. The basement stretched for what seemed too far for a simple basement – fifty meters wide by around a hundred meters long, the basement stretched out into pure darkness before the walls could be seen. Footsteps could be heard decending the stairs into the basement, a faint light spreading further into the basement as the being made their way down into the damp darkness.

Sound echoed louder than it should, the sounds reached the opposite end of the basement, where movement could be heard, the faintest hints of a silhouette shifting slightly against the wall could be seen, and though the being at the stairs could see nothing, they could hear the movement that met their arrival in the cold stone basement. The being was a tall form, a human appearing being that was mostly cloaked within a warm winter's coat. The light that was emmiting was from a lantern that held a flame that was the furtherest thing from a candle. A small, baubling green light flickered harmoniously within an orb of some kind of liquid, circling the inner edge of the orb with the energy of something that was in fact alive, though bared no resemblence to anything that one would call alive. The orb hung from a cord held in the being's left hand, a box held in the being's other hand, and despite the lack of free hands, the being continued along without difficulty.

The green light filtered out to illuminate a small form lying on the floor against the far wall, a child it seemed, though the long, matted grey hair hid all real hints of the form's features. The being came to a halt a foot from the small form lying upon the ground, crouching down to take a closer look as they set the strange lantern and the box down on the stone floor next to them. The light illuminated the tiniest hints of life from the figure lying on the floor, the reflection in weak, almost lifeless eyes that were mostly hidden by the matted grey hair. The form observed silently for a few moments, then, without too much deliberation, they reached out and shifted the hair from the figure's face. A pale, sickly face was revealed, that of a very young girl almost on death's door.

"Umi." The form spoke, a quiet, almost cautious voice belonging to a young man. There was no appearing movement from the little girl, her eyes didn't even show any sign of recognition, or even any sign of her hearing him at all. The young man remained silent for a few moments, before he touched his outstretched hand to the side of the little girl's face. "Wake up, Umi." He spoke again, and this time, he received the smallest form of reaction as the little girl's eyes blinked slowly, and, her eyes refocused on the young man's face. She seemed to stare at him for several moments, seeming to be trying to figure out who the young man was, before the most frailest of smiles touched the little girl's face.

"Papa …" The little girl called Umi spoke, her voice so weak the young man would have missed it if he wasn't listening as intently as he was at that moment. Her voice was frail, filled with such pain and suffering that couldn't be put into words, nor could it be conveyed with any form of abstract thinking. A pain from many years of misery, one that slowly ate away at the soul day by day, corrosive in all ways. Her eyes, despite the obvious happiness in 'Papa' visiting, held the same suffering as her voice, and it was almost heart-wrenching to hear.

"Good morning." The young man called 'Papa' spoke, the green lantern light illuminating a warm smile that almost seemed forced. "Are you hungry? I brought you breakfast."

"You did …?" Umi spoke, her frail smile remaining without change. "Thank you ..."

"You're welcome." Papa spoke, reaching for the box he had brought down into the cold basement. Opening it after a moment, he unpacked it carefully so Umi could see without trouble. "I brought you Chicken Cabonarra, and Vegetable Pasties. Which would you like?" Umi's smile faultered slightly, and the young man let out a breath after a moment.

"I'm sorry ..." Umi began, however, her words stopped as 'Papa' shook his head.

"Just try and eat something. I'll be happy with that." He spoke quietly, watching the little girl as she gave him another frail smile.

"Can … I have the one … with no meat?" Umi spoke, and, Papa said nothing, lifting the little plate that held bite-sized pasties from the stone and placing it in front of her.

"Then I'll have the other one." Papa spoke, more or less to himself than Umi, and, he went from his crouching position, to kneeling carefully as he watched the frail little girl manage to lift herself upright with a lot of evident trouble. Though he didn't do anything to help, he most certainly watched intently, his expression growing torn more and more. He wiped the expression clean from his face as Umi was somewhat stable upright, and she carefully took hold of one bite-sized pastie in her petit fingers. Feigning a look of indifference, Papa took the plate of cabonarra as his eyes traced the chains that held the frail little girl in this Prison. Shackles were attached to Umi's ankles and wrists, chains hanging from them and attaching to the wall behind her. With just enough slack to allow her to lie down on the floor, she couldn't walk more than a meter from the wall, nor could she really move at all due to the weight of the solid metal shackles. Her form was so malnourished and frail that if was obvious she hadn't been eating, and the little grey dress hung loosly from her bony figure. Papa let out a breath as he thought a little more on the situation, taking note of Umi's attempt at eating the pastie that fell from her weak fingers, and to the stone floor.

"Papa … it got away ..." Umi's weak voice spoke, and 'Papa' feigned the look of an exasperated parent.

"I'm not getting you a fork, you'll poke yourself in the eye again." Papa spoke, then, after a bite of his food, he looked at Umi again, to see that she had succeeded in taking a bite out of a pastie this time.

"Papa …" Umi's voice spoke, and Papa looked up at her from his breakfast again.

"Yes, what is it?" He spoke, watching Umi as she looked up at him weakly.

"When … can I come outside?" She asked weakly, her grey eyes showing a bright hope that almost made 'Papa' want to weep. "I've been good … just like you wanted … Please can I come outside?" Papa bit his lip, watching the little girl as her frail face radiated more hope.

"I know you've been good." Papa spoke, lifting a hand and placing it atop Umi's head gently. "But it's up to your mother when you can come outside." Umi's expression fell, and it left him feeling like someone had just ripped his heart straight out of his chest.

"Then I'm not coming out ... am I?" Umi's frail voice spoke, filled with a despair that had no place in a little girl. His gaze trailed over to the walls behind Umi, where many other shackles and torturer's devices hung, previously overlooked.

"I can't see why not, you've been good, just like you said." Papa spoke, putting the plate of cabonarra down after a moment, seeing Umi lower her head after a moment. "I'll talk to your mother about -"

"Most definitely not!" Barked a cold, harsh voice from behind, causing Papa to look around immedaitely. A tall, elegant looking woman stood a few meters behind, her long ebony hair hanging down her back in cascading lengths, and her almond-shaped eyes were narrowed in disaproving? Or distaste. A little girl of about four years old stood at her side, a grin across her face as she shook her silver hair out of her face. "Victor. You're supposed to simply check, not deliver a four course meal." The elegant woman's face twisted a little more, showing her distaste and cold persona. "That thing shouldn't be brought food from the dinner table, in any case."

"Maria, be reasonable, Umi's our daughter! Just like Netami!" Victor spoke, getting to his feet suddenly as he turned to approach the elegant woman called Maria. "You can't expect me to just _abandon _her like this! Just because you don't _want _her!" Maria's eyes narrowed, and Umi slowly looked up at Victor and Maria, while the little girl that was called 'Netami' just watched, that same grin across her face, as if her parent's weren't having any form of disagreement at that moment.

"Do what you want with that _thing! _Just dispose of her by the time we get back." Maria's cold voice spoke, and, without a second's pause, she turned on her heel and began to strut over towards the stairs.

"Maria! Can't we just talk about this?" Victor shouted after the woman, his attention upon her disappearing back, and nowhere else. He began to follow Maria quickly, not looking back in the least as he tried to catch up. Umi watched, her weary gaze weak as her Papa disappeared into the shadows.

One small, petit form remained in the darkness with Umi, that broad grin still across her lilly white skin as Umi's gaze fell to the stone floor just in front of her.

"I'm happy Momma used you." Came the voice belonging to the little girl called Netami, and Umi slowly looked up at the little girl that was clearly her twin sister. "And I'm happy she hates you." A pricking sensation of tears welling up overcame Umi, though she remained silent and motionless. The sounds of Netami's approaching footsteps echoed, and in Umi's weak and feeble gaze, she saw Netami crouch down just in front of her, to look eye to eye. For the first time in a long while, there was the same cold feeling in Netami's gaze as in Maria's, and yet, that smile was still sincere in almost every way. "I'm happy that you are down here, because, I get to keep Momma and Papa all to myself, and I don't have to share." Netami stood up after a few moments, and she giggled as she began to leave as well.

Umiko watched, her gaze upon Netami's disappearing back as the tears held back began to fall, and she was once again left in the cold darkness of imprisonment.


	57. Do You Love Me?

___**CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN: Do You Love Me?**_

Pitch black, the darkness flooding the area was a deep and cold loneliness that pierced through the heart, and into the soul. An emptiness that filled the soul with despair, though there was no tangible reason why that was. The air was cold with the crisp chill of something foreboding, an air of ill around. The faint sound of dripping water echoed faintly, a slow dripping that highlighted how empty and still the room was. It was a room one was within here – the walls held the stagnent air and echoing sound efficiently, and blocked out the warmth of life from outside.

The floor was cold when I came to, all I could feel was the hard cold stone of something made by the hands of man, or demon, I didn't care. It was not natural, and that was all that one needed to know here. My body was so cold that it was burning, and the side of my face was colder still. Lines across the side of my face that was against the stone floor was warmer than the rest of me for some reason, like there were lines of warm water running along the floor beneath my face, though I couldn't really understand why. I could smell stagnent water, a lot of it, and for some reason, the scent of ancient decay stained the air, as did the scent of blood. I could see nothing but darkness, and I could feel nothing but the cold – my very soul felt numb at that moment, like I had been unconscious for a very long time – almost like how I woke up after apparently being dead for so long.

I slowly dragged myself upright against the cold numbness that was my body, difficulty slowing me down in the movement. My whole body felt stiff through the numbness, and I began to feel certain that I'd been unconscious for a while. I couldn't tell if it was daylight, or dusk, nor did it seem to matter to me at that moment. The trailing of that warmer fluid against the side of my face continued down to my neck, and for some reason, it was getting warmer. I didn't put too much thought into it, though, looking around the room slowly as I tried to pick something to tell me where I was. I guessed, I must have hit my head from that fall – for some strange reason, I could remember hitting my head when I landed down here, and it must have been bad – it didn't take much for me to guess that trailing flud now running down my collarbones was blood, which meant I hit my head hard enough for a concussion, though I didn't feel any signs of a concussion to say the least. Maybe that's a thing of my human existence, now never to have any effect on my life again.

I slowly dragged myself to my feet as I began to try and search out where I was. I was beneath the huge house, of course, but I couldn't tell how far down I'd fallen, or what part of what I guessed was a basement, I was in. I was more or less surprised that I was completely intact when I woke up – I half expected when I woke up, to have a leg chewed off or something. But, as it turned out, I was perfectly fine, asside from a head injury and all those injuries I had before falling down here. My leg was probably going to go infected because of too much exposure to dirt and grime, but I couldn't do anything about it yet. I slowly brought my hands together in front of me, closing my eyes as I tried to pick if I could still do some work with my energy. Luckily for me, my fingertips began to twitch after several moments of concentration, so it was a go. I musn't have been out of it for too long, if I still had both enough blood, and enough energy for me to do this.

I opened my eyes after several moments, fighting to bring forth some of my energy to work with. Instead of the rushing of cold like ice water the last time, the sensations of droplets of water was all that I got, which made me guess that I was at … what, five percent at the moment? Probably less, I hadn't had very much experience at all with actually using my so called 'powers'. I paid attention to my hand, and, while I watched, I could see tiny particles of light flowing to a tiny little ball of light from my fingertips. With my being stuck alone in the dark, and with in all likelihood, the worst concussion to have ever been dealt to anyone in time's existence to make me a little slow in the head today, this was the first time I'd actually sat there and watched the way my energy actually flowed from my hand. Or was that blood loss that was probably making me a little slow? I didn't know at that point, nor did it matter.

The droplets of ice cold energy stoped flowing into the palm of my hand, leaving me with a blue flame the size of a candle's flame. So, if my head was actually working at that moment, before I woke up in the Makai, my energy capacity would be five percent, or less, of what I was capable of before I walked into this forsaken mansion. My eyes focused on something just past my hand, the tiniest hint of something that wasn't a stone floor, or even just a concrete basement floor. I didn't bother in moving my hands – my eyes widened as I picked what it was just a few meters away from me.

The floor I was on sunk into a kind of waterway that was at most a meter deep, filled almost to the brim with water. There was rubble all over the place, lots of it, possibly the debree from the ceiling where I fell through, and there were bones all through the water the rubble didn't cover. Humanoid bones, it seemed, bones of every kind of creature I'd be able to think of – some of them had horns protruding from where the temples would have been, some with wings, some with extra arms … I must have fallen into a kind of basement graveyard! It explained the heavy scent of decay, and my head injury explained the scent of blood! My arm was shaking as I fought to figure out what I had gotten myself into – but my body was shaking for some reason other than finding a basement full of a hundred or so skeletons, I didn't know why, but I could feel it in the pit of my stomach like my very insides were beginning to squirm into knots.

I stumbled backwards as I tired to figure out where to go – how to get out! With the squirming of my insides, I could feel something like fear setting into my body – but it wasn't fear, it was something different, like, fear was only a tiny part of it. I turned – maybe heading this way would get me out? Only, I came to a dead halt as I saw something not yet reduced to bones, or even reduced to a decaying mess. I had forgotten all about it in my half-drunk phase of blood loss. It's eyes were still open, it's life still within it's body. Half-burried under a pile of rubble, it was unnable to move, however, it was still breathing, the long piece of wood and ice only serving to keep it from freeing itself – and most certainly not to kill it! It's eyes were still upon me – pure black eyes that sent tremmors of fear running through my whole body. It was still conscious and had been staring at me the whole time I was unconscious down here! Even the time I had been conscous but so god damn stuck in a daze for me to know something that would eat me if it could was lying just a few meters away, drooling at the thought of sinking it's teeth into me!

I stumbled, turning back around to flee back the other way, to get away from the monster that had been stuck here with me – that flickering blue light had long since vanished, and I had completely forgotten about not being able to see! My injuries didn't stop me in the least – nor did the fact I should be dead by now! Blinding fear and panic pushed me onwards, my breath coming out in ragged bouts that caused nothing but pain. My foot caught on something like an upturned slab of stone, sending me hurdling forwards with a shriek of fright. I hit the side of my head hard against the floor, my vision being slammed with a blinding array of white dots and black swirls that hurt probably more than the actual knock to the head itself. Once again I was lying on the stone floor, on my side, and, this time, the wind and what sense I had left was knocked right out of me.

I remained lying on the floor, closing my eyes slowly as the flickering white and black lights faded from my vision, and, a choking gasp escaped my lips. My body hurt so much, my heart felt like it was going to implode on itself, and as another choking gasp escaped me, burning hot tears escaped the corners of my eyes, trailing down my face and to the cold, stone concrete that smelled more of tears than even blood and decay. I couldn't bring myself to get up, and I couldn't bring myself to consider it. The pain that engulfed my whole form shook like tremmors within my body, and, another choking gasp escaped me as I wondered, Why? What did I do that was so bad? A gasping sob escaped me as those questions sunk in on me. I didn't do anything that was wrong? Did I? I went to school, went to university, and I worked a job. I paid the bills, and never hurt anyone!

But then, why did everything happen like this? I didn't do anything wrong! I know I didn't! I didn't have many friends! I didn't have much going for me, I know, but it was enough for me! I didn't go looking for trouble like other people did! I didn't even go looking for anything else, I was happy where I was! If I died, if I really did die, then, why was I brought back? Why did they bring me back to all this pain when they could have just left me there? Why did they bring me back, knowing I could never go back!

"Why did you bring me back?" The pain continued to become worse as I remained sprawled on the floor like that. "I didn't want this! I didn't even ask – why?"

"Does it hurt …?" A voice echoed from within my own head.

"Yes!" I choked out, bringing my knees to my chest as the cold began to grow more intense. "It hurts so much that I wish I never woke up!"

"Why …?" Came the voice again, baring the same changes in tone as my own voice. "Why did you wake up if it was going to hurt …?"

"I didn't want to!" The cold air stung my lungs as my choking gasps turned into sobs. "Everywhere I go, everyone's trying to kill me! I tried so hard to be good! I tried so hard it hurts!"

"Then why did you?"

"He woke me up, not me! I can't die, they'd just bring me back again if I did!"

"Is that why it hurts? Because we were born, you have to live like this?" I opened my eyes after a moment, confusion managing to creep in on me. A small, petit form was lying on the floor next to me, sprawled the same way as me, like a reflection. Her form was translucent, almost see-through. Her form was a layer of faint blue light in the darkness, like a blue silhouette against a black background. She looked like me, almost identical to me, but, I could see chains keeping her here, from shackls around her wrists, and her ankles. A faint smile crept across my face as I watched her, and she watched me, realisation filling my body with bittersweet regret.

"Are you the reason why I can't remember? Umiko?" My feeble voice croaked, and, I saw her smile, just like I was. "This is home, isn't it? In all it's disgusting beauty, this is where we were born?"

"And created." She spoke, her voice a perfect replica of mine. "Our Momma created our pain, and then made more." She gently took my hand, filling that one part of me with a warmth that I had long since forgotten existed. "Papa tried to save us, but in doing so, he only hurt us more. Because he cut me from you, he saved our body, but not our heart."

"You're my memories, and he stripped you from me like you were a bandaid?" A fresh wave of pain set in as I saw her smile with a heart full of sadness. "Why? Why did he do that? All this time, I needed you! I needed to know who I was all this time!"

"I know. It's okay now." Umiko spoke, her voice gentle as she gripped my hand tighter. "You will remember. Our body can hold us, even with all our chains still within our bodies."

"Even with … all our chains?" I repeated, but, she just smiled.

"It will hurt, but, we won't be separated anymore. I promise." I closed my eyes as I felt her touch her hand to the side of my face, the warmth flowing into me slowly.

"Umiko … will ..."

"Just sleep, it will all be over soon." Umiko's voice echoed faintly, and, despite the pain still coursing through my body, the warmth began to fill my whole body, lulling me into a weary unconsciousness.


	58. Not Tomorrow

___**CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT: Not Tomorrow**_

The forests were silent within the dark night. The waves rocked back and forth with the gravitational movements of the planet, and though there was nothing to worry upon, there was a cold chill in the air that seemed more foreboding than the peaceful night spoke about. The settlement along the coast was at peace, the beings residing within were silent, minding their own business, like most beings in this place usually did.

Hiei remained silent as he sat against the trunk of a tree up on the higher reaches of the forest, perched so high up that he could see the whole of the settlement area below. He could even see the shack they'd paid a demon in lending them, paid by relieving him of his life when he tried to eat them. The other beings in the village remained where they were, almost as if they didn't even notice one of their neighbours killed barely a hundred meters away, though they weren't stupid – it was more likely that the shack would be looted once it was abandoned the next morning. It was just better for someone to be on the lookout while everyone else got some rest – and it was Hiei who nominated himself to do so. He'd had enough of carting the frail young woman around like he was her caretaker, and while he did understand that she didn't want to be carted around anyway, he had no damn choice. Kurama having to cart Kuwabara around, and Yusuke being injured enough as it was, there was no other choice but for him to cart Meia around – he'd rather have to carry Meia than drag Kuwabara around.

The scent of blood reached Hiei's notice, causing him to sit up almost immediately. Yes, there was bloodshed that night, but it was a rancid scented blood that belonged to the demon killed, not the scent of a sickly sweet blooded being. In fact, the only being with blood that smelt like that, was Meia, and she was safely tucked in bed while everyone recovered for the time being. Hiei raised an eyebrow, scanning the village for any source of the sweet-smelling blood. He hadn't seen or heard anything that would signafy a fight, or even a murder – which wasn't uncommon in the Makai. Deciding that it probably wasn't anything to take notice of, Hiei leant back into the trunk of the tree, and continued with his survelance of the demon settlement.

Hiei himself hadn't been anywhere close to this settlement once in his life, not even when he was traveling the Makai in the years before his Jagan was put in for him. But, he'd seen this place before, for some reason. Like a passing dream, or, seeing it through someone elses memories. For some strange reason, he'd even been hearing a fiddle playing in the back of his mind when he carried Meia through here the first time, but he couldn't hear it with his own two ears. He thought about it for a few moments. He'd heard the same tune played on a fiddle before, but, if he recalled correctly, that was through a memory, but, he wasn't sure who's it was. Certanly wasn't his own memories, that was for certain.

Now that he thought about it, there was only one person he'd been listening to of late with other means than his actual ears – and that was Meia. He had no choice, what with Koenma making him listen in the first place, and with finding the unfortunate girl encased in ice, he had to listen to her mind constantly. Not because he actually wanted to, but more or less because it was easier on himself, and secondly for the girl. He recalled hearing the tune in Meia's memories, just after she was resurected by that old hag. And, as he thought about it, that was probably why he heard it coming through the village. She was a musical one, maybe music was something that just stuck in her head like superglue. But where would she have heard that fiddle if not in the Human world? Hiei had long since come to the conclusion that Meia was born in the Human world, but, maybe that wasn't quite true? Although, she could have just had another moment of insanity – He was well aware of that black rabbit she had taken to calling 'Usagi'. It was in her own mind, he knew that for a fact – he couldn't see it when he searched for it with his own eyes, and his Jagan.

A blood-curdling scream rang throughout the area like a sledgehammer through a window, snapping Hiei straight out of thought. It rang so loud, and so broadly that Hiei couldn't ascertain where it came from, even if he wasn't stuck in thought like that. It was a scream of pain, he didn't need to hear it again to know that, and as his eyes scanned the village quickly for any sign of where it came from, he noticed one important fact – he couldn't sense Meia within the shack at all. Using his jagan to actually search out the shack from there, he swore as he found no sign of Meia at all.

No sign of Meia within the shack, and there was no sign of her within the village either! He cursed as he got to his feet, and searched out the village again. She had to be somewhere in the village – He hadn't seen her leave the shack at all during his time up in the tree. Once again, his search came up without success, and Hiei had no choice but to come to one conclusion – the scent of blood was most definitely hers, and that scream must have been her as well. Looking at the situation that way, there was only one thing to do.

He leapt out of the tree silently, landing without any problem, and began to sprint onwards towards any hint of energy. There were a few buildings along the edge of the settlement that were abandoned – one in particular that screamed 'keep away', however, with Meia's track-record, she probably wandered in her sleep and ended up in the one place he'd expect Kuwabara to be smart enough not to go. Following the scent of blood, he found his way sprinting up the cobbled trail leading to a huge building resembling a mansion. The scent was particularly strong here, and as he stepped towards the front door of the mansion, the scent of blood from a _monster _came to his notice.

"Of course." Hiei thought cynically, drawing his sword swiftly, before he opened the door simply, pushing it open to reveal the darkness within. With the flick of his wrist, effortlessly, he formed a large ball of ember coloured fire in his hand to cast light throughout the darkened halls. He could see many meters ahead, the light reaching the end of the hallway, and into a huge lobby laid with marble. Stepping forward swiftly, he kept a careful eye on everything around him – he had known the mansion wasn't entirely 'abandoned' when he came past many hours ago. He could pick up the scent of pure terror as he reached the lobby, pure, undiluted terror that fit a half-brained woman with enough curiosity to have her killed many years ago. Looking around, he spotted a disturbed door to his left. A used noose hung from the ceiling of the room the door lead to, a couple of shreds of decayed material hanging from the rope. There was nothing _alive _within that room. Considering the scent of terror, and the disturbed room, an almost irritated glare crossed Hiei's face. Yep, the stupid woman was _conscious_ when she got here.

The scent of blood was strong from the far right, and, as Hiei looked, another door was disturbed, open against the marble walling. Looking at the floor, he noticed footsteps that looked the appropriate size for a woman smaller than himself. They were wide apart – a frantic sprint he could tell. Letting out an irritated breath, he moved forwards, following the trail of footsteps that streaked through the dusty mansion.

The 'abandoned' mansion was larger than it looked on the outside, and certainly dustier than it looked from the outside – though the dust made it easier to track where the woman went – since the scent of blood usually filled every square inch of a building, he couldn't follow that. Coming to another hallway, he found a gaping hole in the left wall – freshly made, he could tell from the lack of dust on the rubble. He frowned a little more, taking note of the fact that Meia's footsteps doubled back to where he was standing, then, they just vanished – but, another set of footsteps had come the same way, as did a thick trail of blood. Crouching down to examine the footsteps in the dust, it wasn't too hard for Hiei to tell the being that made it was the least from human _or _demon. A monster, he could tell without any trouble in the least. But, why didn't he hear the smashing of walls and the shrieking of a hungry monster from where he was perched? The mansion wasn't even that far from his tree to start off with!

Deciding to ponder on that later when he located the stupid woman, he carefully stepped into the room where the monster had entered, where he found another gaping hole located at the foot of a staircase. He lost his frown after a few moments – this was where the scent of the monsters blood was coming from. She might have put up a descent fight after all, and dare he say, killed it? He very much doubted it, but, as he stared at the pitch black hole, he tossed the ball of fire into the dark depths. Watching the darkness become illuminated for several moments, he ascertained that the hole dropped for no more than twenty meters, and, there was a lot of blood – the blood trailed in one particular direction, and in the form of drag-marks. He couldn't see any monster, or any sign of Meia, so, before the flame disipated, he reluctantly dropped himself into the basement below.

He landed on a stone floor carefully paved, and, as he conjourned up another ball of fire, he spotted what exactly made those drag-marks. A huge monster was crawling towards the far wall ahead of him, lower half of it's body broken and mangled, it's upper body fighting to reach the far end of the basement. There was only one reason why that was, and Hiei glared as he began to approach the monster. Yep, this was also the source of where Meia's blood was coming from, and with no more than one swift slice, the monster's head was severed cleanly from it's body as Hiei merely waked onwards. Pathetic. If Meia was a human, he'd be a little impressed with her so much as scratching it, but, she was a demon, one he didn't know of, but she was definitely one never the less. She should have been able to take care of a monster like that!

He spotted where Meia was lying, his glare slowly lifting from his face as he saw how much blood there actually was. Coming to a halt next to the woman, he began to feel a little light headed from all the blood there was. An oddity, but he was prepared to deal with it – it was probably the strange scent her blood had. He crouched down after several moments, taking in the sight of all the injuries that covered the young womans body. An injury to the leg was the first he noticed – her leg was so badly slashed to pieces that he was surprised she wasn't dead from that alone. Taking a closer look, he noticed one thing strange about her injuries – he could see a ice-blue tint to her gashes, in the form of energy, and, as he observed, he depicted that her own energy was spent making sure she didn't bleed to death – whether she did it, or her body instinctively did it, he didn't know, but, it was a sign of how badly she fought to keep herself alive. Her face was completely bloodied, aside from the odd line or two that had the scent of … tears? Hiei didn't know, but, as he observed her, he could tell there was something wrong. He let out a breath after several moments, as he decided to see if he could find the answer in her mind. He saw nothing difinitive – only so many flashing images that it made him feel a little dizzy for some reason? Maybe he needed some rest as well. There was nothing but the overwhelming feeling of a kind of pain he had felt before, and it certainly didn't fit in a young woman living a perfectly normal human life until just recently. It was a pain derrived from a lifetime of pain and torture, and, for some strange reason it put him off eating meat for a while.

Shaking his head to rid him of the stupid human – no, the stupid Meia notion – he glanced back at that monster. Taking a second look at the situation, with it being clear the leg-injury was the older injury, it was a little surprising that Meia actually survived a run-in with that monster for as long as she did. She was just lucky he had heard her scream at all. Hiei blinked – the monster's body was gone, as if it had never been there to begin with, however, it's head was still lying on the floor, it's coal-black eyes shifting slightly within the darkness.

It wasn't dead yet.

Hiei slowly sheathed his katana, listening _very _carefully for any hints of where the monsters body had gone. He couldn't hear any real movement, only a far away splashing that was disipating. Okay, now he was really certain the woman was lucky to be alive, with or without those injuries. He was still careful, allowing the ball of fire to disipate as he carefully took hold of Meia, lifting her into his arms as he looked up at the ceiling. He was lucky – it was just reaching dawn, for he could see the faint outline of the hole in the ceiling. He shifted his grip of the critically injured woman, so her head was resting just beneath his chin, and her arms were nestled neatly in her lap – like he had carried her that morning. That far-off splashing had stopped, much to Hiei's dismay, so, he had no choice but to pre-empt where the monster had crawled off to.

Oh how he hated monsters that didn't die upon decapitation – they usually came back to bite him, usually with their head reattached as well.

Taking a gamble, Hiei stepped to the hole in the ceiling quickly, his eyes upon the ceiling as a sudden rushing of splashing echoed, rushing forwards to catch him before he escaped with Meia. He leapt, just in time as he looked down – for if he were a second too late, the monster would have claimed him as well in the bound it just made. A blood-curdling thud echoud with resounding force as Hiei landed on the lip of the hole, which sent him beginning to leave the huge mansion quickly. No doubt that monster would give pursuit – however, if it did before they were out of the settlement, there were many beings in between the shack and mansion, there'd be little trouble in locating it if it made a move – and if it did, it would be broad daylight, and much harder for it to pull it's disappearing trick.

The young woman was tense in his grip as he stepped out of the mansion, her form curled in a tight ball against his chest. Hiei didn't frown, not even as the scent of tears met his senses upon his descent to the village.

That basement, with all it's decay, held the same scent as Meia's dormant blood.


	59. Cold Blood

Hey everyone ! I'm so sorry for the long wait on chapters. I had a huge mental blank, and these two chapters had taken forever for me to get it right! I know it's no excuse, but I've got two for you today, and I hope you do enjoy it! Please, review if you have the time, I'd like to know what you all think of where the story is going so far! And don't think it's going to be one of those ongoing ones that take forever! A finishing point is well on it's way!

Anyway! I hope you all enjoy, and please let me know what you think of the story!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY NINE: Cold Blood**_

The gentle crashing of ocean waves echoed throughout the area, a peaceful sound against the silence within the beach-side shack. The beings who resided within the shack temporarily were also silent, their minds on other things than the problem at hand – where were they going to go now? What could they do? Their lives were heavily impacted by the well-being of an unfortunate young woman, and if they made just one wrong move, the young woman in their protective care would either become captured by one group of beings, or, she'd end up brutally murdered by the other party. Not even tossing her out to the wolves and saving their own skin would help them now – they were fugitives, and whether they liked it or not, they had to face the truth – they faced the same fate as the unfortunate young woman, who wanted nothing more than to be left alone to live her life in peace.

Kurama let out a breath as he straightened up, wiping his bloodied hands on a rag as he observed the sight of a young woman lying unconscious on the only bed within the shack. Hiei had brought her back no more than an hour ago, and it didn't take more than the sight of all the blood to alert Kurama as to what had happened – Kurama couldn't really see Meia not wandering off the first chance she got. Not that it was her fault, she'd been unconscious for the most part of their time on the run, and Kurama wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even know they all were fugitives now. He glanced over at the window of the room, his gaze falling upon a weary-looking Hiei. The fire apparition appeared to have fallen asleep upon the windowsill, his sword resting against the panel of glass at his side. It didn't really surprise Kurama – while himself, Yusuke and Kuwabara caught up on some much-needed rest, Hiei stood guard, and even though Kurama knew the fire apparition was used to being conscious for long periods of time, he wasn't surprised at Hiei being exhausted by morning.

Looking down at the rags that _were_ Meia's newclothes, Kurama let out a weary breath. It looked like Meia was in need of a new set of clothes, and as Kurama thought for a moment, he couldn't see Yusuke or Kuwabara fetching Meia a new set from the peddler in the settlement. Deciding it was his turn to go fetch necessity items, he'd have to search a new set – he couldn't see Hiei so much as considering to agree to a request – it was surprising enough that the fire apparition had gone and bought the first set for Meia in the first place.

The strangest scent of sickly sweet honey was in the air for some reason – Kurama couldn't figure out why that was, but he was certain it was something to do with Meia – but why? Her blood was a sickly sweet smelling sort before, but why would it change _again? _It wasn't like her blood was going to continue to change in scent every time she injured herself now, was it?

That injury to Meia's head was the worst, next to her slashed and gashed leg. It was amazing she hadn't split her head open completely from the amount of force required to split the skin of her head that badly. It wouldn't be wise for Meia to walk around too much with such a knock to the head – though Kurama very much doubted she would, with her leg in such a condition. That strange energy that bound the gashes and wounds of her body had disipated, and though Kurama was relieved, he was concerned – for her energy to come to life and bind her injuries to prevent bleeding to death meant she'd had to have a _lot _of experience controling powers, and that was an ability that was uncommon to those who weren't healers. And the way the bleeding was halted – it was as if her injured body was placed in a time-lock of sorts. But no, Meia couldn't do that. She couldn't even defend herself against normal Humans to save her own life.

Movement came to Kurama's notice, and he looked over to the source of the motion. The sword against the wall had shifted slightly, and, Hiei had moved a little, his head resting against the panes of glass that were the window. Yep, Hiei was most definitely asleep, he looked strangely content as he was, despite his disagreeable demeanor. Kurama observed for a little longer, before deciding it was time to start heading over to the peddlers. He placed the bloodied rag on the pile of rags just a few inches from his feet, before he began to leave. Closing the door slowly, he glanced over at Yusuke and Kuwabara seated at the table, their attention on breakfast. Kurama chose not to disturb them – there was only so long until they had to move on again. Lifting the bag from the table in the next room, Kurama merely walked our of the shack, his attention fixed on sorting out what they needed while he could. It was amazing enough that the demons around here hadn't decided to deal with them yet, let alone come around and see if there was anything _worth _killing them over.

The sun was still a glaring brightness against the heavily shadowed settlement, and even though there was no obvious hint of trouble, Kurama wasn't going to gamble with safety on that. Stepping towards the centre of the settlement, he decided it would be time to pick up some supplies for on the road, while there was the opportunity. Who knew how long it would take before Spirit world, and those who pursued to forget the existence of the five of them? Kurama wasn't willing to think that they would ever _forget _to begin with. It wasn't a smart thing to do – the moment they did, it was bound to have either someone kill them all, or they would end up careless and caught in a trap.

Trudging up the path that lead to the centre of the settlement, Kurama took note of the people residing within the settlement – for some strange reason, it was quite busy for a village-proportioned settlement. The centre of the settlement which housed a giant campfire was full with an assortment of demons, all in varying colours. If Meia were to wake up and see all these people, he was certain she'd faint. It was obvious that the demons here were traveling peddlers, most of them had a very different scent about them, to the people that did reside within the settlement. Though the thought of common routes was one that seemed accurate, for these ones seemed relaxed, as if they knew what the people here would buy like the back of their hands. Not even showing any sign of thought, Kurama stepped over to one of the peddlers selling clothes and other items.

It just seemed his luck that a group of traveling peddlers would be in this strange village on such a day, but Kurama wasn't going to complain. It was better than searching for food out in the middle of the wilderness, in any case. Kurama took a glance around at the others within the centre of the settlement – there were a lot more than Kurama would have thought normal for a trading day – but he wasn't about to complain, it made blending in that little bit easier. The being before him was a thin, elegant looking woman in a set of leather armor. Two long horns were protruding from her temples, the only sign of her demoness herritage. Her amber eyes were upon the other people in the area, not Kurama, though Kurama was certain she was paying attention to him. Looking through the clothes, Kurama frowned slightly – not as much luck as he was hoping for. Clothes that were most definitely too big for the petit woman needing the clothes, and there didn't appear to be anything smaller. The faint hints of someone jogging past met Kurama's hearing, though he didn't pay it any heed – Kurama didn't want to linger too long.

"What're you looking for?" Came the voice of the peddler woman before him, causing Kurama to blink, before looking up at the woman. She held a stern look, though Kurama couldn't see anything he should take into consideration over.

"A replacement set of clothes." Kurama spoke, a slightly wry smile across his face as he answered. "A friend of mine got into a bit of trouble, and needs replacements."

"Smaller sizes are around the back." The woman spoke, motioning to an overlooked table behind her. Kurama blinked, and, as he nodded in thanks, he noticed another being around the back of the peddler's stall. Of course, people here weren't that trusting. Stepping around to the other table, Kurama began to look through the clothes. It seemed these clothes were for the more petit of beings, which suited Kurama fine, it wasn't for him anyway.

"Did you hear, Hoseph?" Came the faint hints of a hoarse, rasping breath, catching Kurama's attention immediately. He blinked, deciding it was appropriate to eavesdrop, on this one particular instance in any case.

"Hear what?" Came another voice, this one a clear and booming voice amongst all the noise.

"The blood of that coward has joined us again it seems."

"Victor? You've gotta be kidding me, I've heard no such thing." The being called Hoseph spoke, a loud and booming voice, despite how close the two demon were at that point. "Are you sure you're not imagining things? Or eaten something foul?"

"No." The hoarse voice spoke, and Kurama narrowed his gaze as he listened in. Feigning a look of curiosity, he picked up a heavy traveling cloak to investigate. "There are strangers in the village. Took care of Seelt, they did."

"That bastard had it coming. Strangers aren't the sort to put up with idiots." Came the voice of Hoseph, a mild chuckle in his voice. Well, that answered why no one came to investigate the death of a local. The smell of his rancid blood probably added to the deterance.

"Well yes, but, this time it's not just a rumor!"

"And why should I believe you? You prattle on just as much as that Edward."

"I'm not making this up!" The rasping voice almost shrieked, dismay in their screeching voice. "I've seen a small, frail young woman wandering around! I'm almost certain it's that wench Edward tried to kill himself! The scent of blood through the whole village is the same as that cowards!"

"It smells like out-of-season Honey if you ask me." Hoseph's voice chortled, an air of humor in his voice. Kurama dared a glance over at where the two voices were coming from, but, he couldn't see anyone there.

"Yes! I know! That's what their blood _smells like!" _The rasping voice shrieked, and as Kurama frowned slightly, he could hear approaching footsteps from the northern parts of the village. "There was a reason Maria locked her up! A reason she would never touch that girl herself! And if Edward says she's a messenger of death, then I'm taking his word over your sorry excuses!"

"Ravel!" Hospeh's voice spoke, exasperation in his voice as the being clearly called Ravel began to stomp away. Kurama let out a breath as Hoseph trudged away with an air of absent-minded stumble, folding the traveling cloak up and draping it over his left arm. That didn't bode well, this Victor person was clearly someone long gone, and long since hated. The fact of the other demons here suspecting them of bringing this 'Messenger of Death' was something Kurama couldn't ignore. If they did indeed decide to put an end to their lives, it could only mean that they'd strike before long.

_'Well, I suppose there isn't much we can do.'_ Kurama thought, grabbing the last few items that would likely fit, and handing over the required coin tokens to the peddler for the items purchased. He did begin to wonder who this Victor was, and as he thought about it, he'd never thought to ask Meia who her parents were, if she even remembered them. Though for some reason he very much doubted she did, or that she'd be comfortable in answering with a straight face.

Taking grip of the items he'd managed to purchase, Kurama made quick work of grabbing supplies for dinner before he began to head back to the shack - it was only morning, and it was at least a short while before nightfall. Kurama very much doubted these people would do anything before nightfall, it just didn't seem like something beings of this calibre would do. He hadn't had much of a chance to so much as speak with Meia since escaping the Necromancer's home in the swamps, maybe now was the time to speak with her once again. After all, Hiei had been with her the whole time since finding her, the fire apparition was probably getting sick and tired of keeping his eyes on the unfortunate woman. Although, Kurama wouldn't know if it was in fact an issue for the fire apparition - he'd been quieter, and more subdued than normal.

Walking along the soft sands of the coastal town, Kurama let out a breath, trecking the long way to the shack for some reason. Two days present in this place, and he was already sick of it. He'd become fond of the life with Meia in the basement, and her energetic friend visiting her constantly, or rather, visiting 'him' constantly. The one normal, non-spirit world afflicted person that wanted to know him, and, he didn't feel as if he needed to hide himself from her. He'd talked himself into believing he'd always said yes to Motoko visiting as a way to help Meia, but, he was as much happy for the visits as Meia was. Despite her complaints, he knew she enjoyed them, and so did he. It was nice for someone to like him without knowing his past, or who he really was.

He slowed down to a stroll as he caught sight of the shack, the scent of rancid blood slowly filtering over as he merely closed his eyes to will away his train of thought - it wouldn't do any good thinking about what could have been. He could see from the window that Hiei was still where he'd been before Kurama had left, and as he thought about it, he did begin to wonder why that was.

He could never go back now, and even though he understood it wasn't Meia's fault at all, he couldn't help but resent her for it somehow, for some reason. He couldn't shift it from it's secure place in the back of his mind, and even though there was no founding reason for it, every time he thought on it, it just filled him with regret. He was certain Yusuke was resentful, in some shape or form, the spirit detective hadn't said much since escaping the Necromancer's home. Not seeing Keiko again would have a big effect on the spirit detectives morale, though he couldn't be certain of that. Hiei and Kuwabara, on the other hand, were two that Kurama didn't have any idea on. Kuwabara knew very little about the situation, and Hiei had been acting strange ever since Meia's disappearance, at least, to Kurama. He'd also been very hard to read of late, so it was only speculation that could help now.

The door opened with a loud creeking noise, and as Kurama stepped into the shack, he could see that Yusuke and Kuwabara had disappeared. Not that it mattered all that much, the injured Meia, and sound sleeping Hiei were still here. He let out another breath as he shut the door with his foot, and began to walk into the main room of the shack - he'd been feeling lethargic of late, and it wasn't too hard for him to pick that he was growing weary of constantly being on alert all the time.

Meia was still asleep in the bed, lying on her side this time instead of on her back, as Kurama remembered. He frowned slightly, looking away from her as he went to set the bag of food on the shanty table carefully. Everything was expensive here, too. There was barely any form of monetry items in the shack, only just enough to buy what Kurama had collected at the settlement centre. He stepped into the room slowly, placing the new set of clothes on the little stool next to the bed. The only item that wasn't torn to pieces by Meia's adventuring the night before, was the pair of shoes, though they bore a few nice slices, they were still pretty much intact.

There wasn't much else he could do, turning to head back into the other parts of the shack, where he could think on what he'd overheard in the village.

A darkness much unlike any other crept through the dull forest, an air of gloom about the darkness that swept much like a rolling cloud of fog. The trees were a dull grey, their usually pristine crystaline sheen was dull, as if it had been left to collect dust and grime for many years. There was no movement within the strange forest, no sense of life within the land at all. The skies were a blood red, the rolling darkness slowly covering all signs of the foreboding colour from sight. Cracks stretched across the blood red skies, foreboding cracks that shouldn't exist in the first place. It was as if one was looking out from the inside of a broken snow-globe – the cracks were a sign of instability, and the darkness flowed in through the cracks that stretched the worst over where the setting sun should have been.

A petit form sat along the edge of the lake in the centre of the forest, her shadowed eyes upon her hands in her lap. The lake was a smokey colour, in comparison to it's mirror-like reflection, and though in all likelihood it was due to the darkness flowing into the clearing, there was no sign of the darkness covering _all _of the clearing at all. Chains hung down the young woman's body, embedded chains that weighed down her very heart against the encroaching darkness. Her form was frail, and her eyes showed nothing but burdened life.

The darkness swept over her, a harsh cold wind slamming straight into her side, though there was no movement from her to show such a force. Her long, dull blue hair lashed violently within the force of the wind, however, she merely rose to her feet without difficulty, her shadowed gaze still upon the lake that was before her.

"It's time." Came the young woman's voice, her lack of life reflected within her very voice.

"I know." Came another voice through the darkness, a perfect representation of the young woman's own voice, though there was no form with her through the corroding darkness. "The darkness shall unveil a life you've forgotten, and will finally end my own suffering as a fragment." A pause, for no more than a few seconds. "Are you sure about this?"

"I've done nothing, and yet there are many people who yearn for my demise." The young woman spoke, slowly closing her eyes as she paused for a second. The rushing darkness grew more forceful, the longer it swept across the strange lands. "I deserve to have a complete existence before that fate befalls me."

"I understand." Came the replica voice, an ancient sorrow within her voice that seemed ill fitted for a woman of twenty years.

Silence rung through the air, and as the young woman remained silent, her form fell forward into the lake. No splash met her as her form hit the water, only, her form disappeared in it's entirity, as if all there really was within the lake was a body of darkess.


	60. Elegy Of The Fallen Souls

Hey! The second chapter for today is up! Sorry for the long wait! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! Don't forget to review if you have the time! I'd love to hear what you all think! Next chapter in the story: Asphyxia

It's mostly written up, just have to proof read and make sure it's coherrent enough to read, lol. Enjoy, and have fun!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY: Elegy Of The Fallen Souls**_

The waves rolled against the sandy beaches of the strange settlement gently as the late afternoon breeze filtered in through the open windows. Sunlight bathed the room with a golden glow, and as the sounds of life other than the demons within the settlement echoed faintly on the salty sea breeze, the tiniest hints of movement from within the cabin shifted within the golden hues. The tiny form belonging to Meia was still asleep in the bed, her previously pale face seeming to have some colour returning to her cheeks.

Crimson eyes opened groggily, staring out at the empty beaches as he fought to wake up. Hiei remained silent and motionless, slowly coming to recollection upon where he was, and how he'd gotten there. After several moments, he stretched slightly upon the windowsill, and, without any real sound, he tilted his head to the left, to look into the room he was situated in. It was just himself and Meia, and, as he glanced at the door to the rest of the cabin, he faintly detected the tiniest hints of Kurama's energy in the other parts of the cabin. His body was thick with a heavy grogginess – had he slept any longer, he'd surely have problems becoming completely conscious. It had been a while since he'd managed to have more than two, three hours sleep.

His eyes dropped down to the bed, observing the motionless girl for a few moments in silence. She'd moved since he brought her back – she was lying on her side, facing him, and she looked like she was actually quite comfortable. He blinked, confused as he observed Meia for several moments. Was her hair a darker colour again? He couldn't be sure, he was certain she had practically white hair now, what with her new form, but now he couldn't be sure. He was tired, and the sunlight was shining in his eyes. He decided it was probably just a trick of the light, rubbing his eyes slowly as he fought to wake himself up.

Slowly, he looked away from the sleeping woman, to the beaches outside. It was likely around five in the afternoon, and he'd gotten back at dawn, so far so good, around ten hours sleep. And it didn't look like anyone had made any advancements on them while he was sleeping. His gaze trailed back to the sleeping woman as she seemed to move in her sleep – it didn't look like those injuries were giving her trouble – on the contrary. Hiei couldn't smell any blood really, which meant her healing factor had picked up to a more demon-like pace. Although, that knock to the head was probably going to have an effect on her for a while. Hiei mentally cursed at that – it meant he was probably still going to have to carry her around like a sleeping child.

"You're finally awake." Came Kurama's voice, catching Hiei's attention immediately. He looked over to the door of the room again, to see the kitsune man standing in the doorway, a strange weariness about him that didn't seem to fit with just exhaustion from being on the run for a whole week.

"Where are those fools?" Hiei questioned after a moment, and, he saw Kurama smile wearily.

"Gone out to find another place for us to hide out in." Kurama answered, looking over at Meia wearily. "I doubt her injuries have healed enough for us to move too far."

"The baka onna's fine." Hiei spoke, shooting an irritated look over at Meia.

"All things considered, we've outstayed our welcome." Kurama spoke, entering the room after several moments, approaching the sleeping Meia after a moment. "It seems this whole village believes Meia to be a 'Messenger of Death', which certainly doesn't bode well for the rest of our stay."

'_Great.' _Hiei cursed, glaring at the sleeping Meia. Make that three groups of beings that wanted everyone dead because they were within ten square miles of Meia at all times – Spirit World, The other group of Netami-speaking monsters, and now a redneck village of demons they'd just happened upon trying to escape groups One and Two. That made his outlook on being able to go back to his life of solitude completely covered with stormclouds and tombstones. He was practically _chained _to this woman! And it was pissing him off! He blinked as Kurama said nothing else, looking at him consciously as he noticed a strange look across the kitsune's face. He looked perplexed, and with one look at where Kurama was staring, Hiei realised Kurama's attention was upon Meia for some reason.

Upon another look at Meia, it took him no longer than a few seconds to pick what Kurama was staring at, and, it snapped the remaining sleep from his system immediately. No wings, and no pointed ears. When the hell had she lost those parts of her body? Another look at Meia's face had him realise why – she had somehow returned to her human form. But how the hell did she manage that? Hiei remembered specifically finding the young woman bleeding, and in her demon form – he once again had to be careful of her paper-thin wings when he brought her back here that morning.

"Hey, Kurama!" Came a loud and energetic voice, snapping their attention from the physically changed Meia, to the door of the shack as two forms entered suddenly. A more energetic Yusuke appeared at the door, accompanied by a equally as energetic Kuwabara, both with broad grins plastered across their faces. "Guess what? We found somewhere to go next!" Hiei looked back at Meia, irritation beginning to sink in on him as he stared at the confounding woman.

"And Urameshi didn't find it!" Kuwabara piped in, a smug tone in his voice, as if the one sentence changed the whole entire story. Hiei began to glare – how the hell could Meia be pain free in her sleep, _and _back to her human form! And while she was unconscious too! The shadows touching the side of her face moved slightly, causing Hiei to blink in shock – was she waking up?

"Who gives a damn about who found what? All that matters is we can get going!" Yusuke replied, annoyance touching his voice as Hiei stared at Meia, the glare lifting from his face as he saw the young woman open her eyes slowly. The original colour of her eyes were present, however, the innocence usually in her eyes was missing, and in it's place was the feel of something Hiei couldn't pick. Silence overcame the room suddenly, showing that everyone was aware that Meia was conscious, and as Hiei watched, confusion creeping over his face, Meia lifted herself upright delicately. The room remained silent, the look in Meia's eyes were an alien contrast to her usually carefree gaze, and as Hiei watched, he noticed she wasn't pain-free at all, but rather seemed more able to brush pain asside.

"Hey Meia!" Kuwabara's voice came, and Hiei frowned as the human walked forward towards the young woman. "How're you feeling?" Meia seemed to smile slightly as Kuwabara came to a halt at the end of the bed, that broad grin across his face seeming to cheer her up.

"Tired." Meia replied, and Hiei lost his frown as a faint, crackly remnant of her voice echoed faintly. It seemed she was getting her voice back, and about bloody time too! He really did hate having to listen to her thoughts all the damn time.

"I already knew that!" Hiei looked over as he heard dispersing footsteps, spotting the disappearing back belonging to Yusuke. A frown crossed his face, and, as he watched, Kurama seemed to turn and begin to leave, following Yusuke outside. Letting out a breath after several moments, and despite his wishes to disappear, he merely turned back around, placing his sour gaze to the landscape outside. It wouldn't do any good to leave Meia in Kuwabara's care again, and to have her wander off _again_.

Thunderstorms crashed dangerously in the heavily veiled skies, sending flashes of light and deafening crashes to echo through the area. The winds howled relentlessly against the sickly trees, screaming dissipating for no more than a moment as flashes of light and crashing shot through the forests. A form ran quickly, the branches of the sickly trees slashing against the form's bare skin, though they paid no heed to the bleeding cuts touching the sides of their face. A torn and dirty outfit of blue covered the form's body, a sash of a previous scarlet red was a musty maroon, and their normally tidy brown hair was strewn over their face, showing not only the lack of care they'd been taking, but the hurry they'd been in. The faint silhouette of a large building complex stood against the dark greys of the horizon and stormy skies, and smoke rose from the centre, clearly, someone's home, or a kind of camp of sorts.

The form stumbled through the last line of trees, his foot catching on a raised tree root as his balance failed, and, he was sent hurdling to the muddy ground. The form remained motionless for several moments, his eyes closed as struggled to so much as bring up the will to get to his feet again. The pacifier he usually had in his mouth had fallen to the muddy ground, and, with one last feeble attempt at getting to his feet, he remained sprawled in the mud, letting his weariness sink in on him, The rain began to fall, stinging the cuts that ran along the sides of his face, though he did nothing to try and stop it. As far as he was concerned, the rain was nothing to be concerned with, and he was more content with lying there catchng his breath.

"Well, well." Came a faint voice, filled with the frail chortling of an elderly woman. The rain began to pour down over him, almost as if the faint voice were a figment of his imagination. "To think my last stroll would bring me the pleasure of seeing Royalty collapsed on my front door step. I really must have died." His eyes snapped open, and, with almost all of his remaining energy, he managed to look up at the form in front of him. Standing before him was an elderly woman, with a small smile across her face.

"D-Dante?" Koenma stammered, horror filling his entire being as the tiniest hints of a body lying on the ground several meters away met his gaze. "What the hell- Did my father –?"

"And here I was under the assumption that you 'Royal' types were all prim and propper, not lying in the mud when one couldn't walk straight." The woman spoke, her voice heavily lined with sarcasm as she smirked down at Koenma. "Get up, already." Koenma barely managed to comprehend before that dumbfounded look crossed his face, and even then, he had trouble comprehending what was going on. He managed to drag himself to his feeble feet once he resecured the pacifier between his teeth, looking down at Dante as she seemed to cackle to herself. His gaze shifted back to that body lying on the ground, a dark look crossing his face as he recognised the form immediately.

"Who's responsible for this?" Koenma demanded, fixing Dante with a dark look. The elderly woman looked at him over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised as she seemed to take in the dischevelled appearance of the Spirit World Prince.

"The damage to my home? Or my body?" Dante questioned, turning to face Koenma as he didn't move. "Both are part of your fathers work."

"How long ago?" Koenma spoke, earning a deadpan look from Dante, before she merely turned, and began to walk onwards.

"Barely a few hours after you left." Dante answered, continuing onwards, even as Koenma remained silent and motionless. "Are you coming, or not? I'd rather not be stuck here for any longer than I have to be!" Koenma let out a breath, casting a glance over at Dante's headless body, before he began to follow her ghost deeper into the complex. He was worried about what had happened to his team of Spirit Detectives, but he knew better than to think they'd been killed along with Dante. Yusuke and Kuwabara were too stubborn, and Hiei and Kurama were smarter than to get killed, rather, it was Meia he was more worried about.

"Did they escape?" Koenma asked as he followed, looking at Dante as she seemed to shake her head slightly.

"Are there any other ghosts hanging around here?" Dante shook her head again as she approached the main gate to her previously intact home, and, she walked through the gate without opening it. "They got out before the rest of your fathers allies came through to clean everything up."

"My fathers allies?" Koenma repeated, opening the gate wearily as Dante continued onwards. "I was unaware my father had allies at all."

"Well, whatever they were, they were wearing Spirit World's Uniform." Dante spoke, glancing over at Koenma as he jogged to catch up. "I'm walking as slow as I can, why can't you _keep up_?" Dante spoke, a smug tone in her voice as she watched – she must have wanted to pick on a part of Spirit World's royal family for many years.

"Forgive me, I've been on my feet for a very long time." Koenma spoke, trying to pick up a little more speed as Dante seemed to speed up a little bit. Oh, that was an overstatement, alright. He'd been on his feet the whole five days he'd been gone. Though he was somewhat glad for the rain, despite how cold it was – he'd be able to wash the mud off of him.

"Well you'd better hurry up! I've been waiting for you to get here so I can go!"

"Alright!" Koenma spoke, irritation showing in his voice as he followed her. Dante stepped up the stone stairs to the back door of her house, which was mostly intact, despite the damage everywhere else. The scent of melting Iron was thick in the air, just like every other incident that involved Meia. Always melting Iron, and always no bodies of the attacking beings. He'd been thinking for a long time that Spirit World couldn't be trusted anymore. It looked like he'd been right the whole time. He entered the house after Dante, not touching anything as he walked – the ceiling had caved in, and it looked like the walls were about to be next. He made sure to steer clear of the walls, though it was easier said than done, due to the rubble everywhere. He looked to where Dante was, to see her standing next to a mostly destroyed bookshelf, where, three books remained, two with burgundy spines, and the third was a cerulean blue.

"Took your time!" Dante chortled, and Koenma refused to grace her with a tempermental reply to that. "I want you to take the blue book." Koenma glanced at the book for a moment, before looking back at Dante. "Just take it already! I can't pick it up for you!"

"Yes, yes," Koenma spoke, mild irritation in his voice as he stepped forward and retrieved the blue book with a raised eyebrow. "Is there any reason why, though?"

"Just do as your told!" Dante snapped, and Koenma frowned wearily as Dante began to walk off. "You'd better read that! I hate people just throwing away something they've been given!"

"Sure." Koenma spoke, watching as Dante's form began to fade away. "And I'm sorry."

"Sorry? The one you're going to be sorry for is Umiko!" Dante spat, casting one glare over at Koenma, before her form completely faded away. Koenma lowered his gaze to the book in his grip, staring down at the hardback cover of Cerulean blue wood for a few moments, before he opened it to one of the random pages inside. The pages were filled with blocks of solid black scrawly writing, so small it was almost impossible to read – _almost_! Koenma flicked through quickly, looking for anything that would tell him what the book was about, when he saw one page that caught his attention. Upon this page, was a vast family tree, outlining the family members that were probably in Dante's family. His gaze had trailed down to where Dante's name was located, and his gaze followed the lines down, to another familiar name two generations down, though it was only joined to two names lower down. The name read Maria Schultz, and, as he tried to figure out where he'd heard the name, or something like it before, he noticed two names below Maria's that had stopped him in his tracks.

The names read from Left to Right; Umiko, and Netami


	61. Asphyxia

Hey everyone! I hope you've all been enjoying reading my updates, I've got some good news for you all! I have two new chapters, as promised, Asphyxia, and another called Walk On Vanity Ruins, all for this story! I've been energetic now that I've gotten past the previous chapter - and I hope it's all good. Please let me know what you think of the chapters, and don't forget to review! I'd love to hear from you all!

Anyway, please enjoy~!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY ONE: Asphyxia**_

The skies outside became a deep shade of grey as the sun set below the horizon, beginning to veil the lands in a curtain of darkness. The hues of orange began to cover the whole village as a huge bon-fire burned with purpose as the beigns within the village threw branches from fallen trees onto the growing fire. The salty sea scent was masked by the heavy scent of burning plant-matter, and with it, the scent of something like cooking meat, but for some reason that shouldn't have fit. My gaze remained upon the sandy coast out the window to my right, where the sight of Kuwabara and Yusuke wandering around came to notice.

My head was heavy with a thick cloudy sensation, like I had overslept again, though I was pretty certain I hadn't. I knew oversleeping wasn't what was causing it, and just like that little voice at the back of my mind spoke, it was probably overexherting myself last night that had done it. Yusuke was quiet, for some reason, and Kuwabara was overenergetic – too energetic it seemed. He didn't leave me alone for a few hours – he just wanted to talk, and talk, and talk. Not that I could really blame him – everyone seemed really really quiet, and it was probably doing the human's head in. Letting out a breath, I placed my gaze to somewhere else – choosing the bandages around my arms and legs. They hurt, and once again, I had hurt my damn leg. Even though my leg had been long since mended from the clean break, now it was just torn up from the glass floor at that mansion. Frowning just that little bit, I forced myself to move my toes to check if any cartlige had been severed. All five toes moved like normal, and as I lifted my leg up to prop it upright somewhat, I did feel pain, but not the pain of anything torn. Just skin and tissue had been cut, no major muscles or anything. I was grateful for that. I must have been lucky – I was sure I would have severed muscles and ligaments.

A form walked past the open door after several moments, catching my attention immediately. The black-clad form of my favorite fire apparition strolled past, a bored look across his face. I observed the way he moved, the way he walked with his hands shoved in the pockets of his coat, and how he held his chin up, like everyone was below him. He just looked, bored, not pissed off, or angry, or even the least bit agitated. He just looked, bored of being stuck in one place with nothing to do. I hadn't seen such a look across his face before, though I hadn't paid much attention to really be able to make any comparisons. I shifted my gaze back to the window to my right, watching as Hiei stepped out of the shack, and out towards the forest. I couldn't help but keep watching, leaning back into the wall as he finally disappeared from view, never looking away from what had his bored attention.

There was only one other soul in the shack with me now – and that was Kurama. I slowly looked over to the other side of the shack as I thought. He hadn't said a word to me since I woke up, and even though I didn't see or hear much as soon as Kuwabara started talking my ear off, I saw that off look he had across his face. I let out a breath, looking down at my body again as I decided to place my thoughts on something other than how strange people had been acting around me. I wasn't wearing a top, instead, my whole torso, and my left shoulder had been wrapped tightly in thick bandages. I looked flat chested with bandages wrapped that tightly, though it didn't bother me too much – at least I wasn't naked. I was in my underwear though, obviously the person I knew was Kurama had to bandage most of the way up my right thigh to bandage my injuries. I looked straight back down at the bandages across my torso, and I had to stop myself from swearing as a bright red tone engulfed my face – Yes, I was thankful for Kurama bandaging my injuries - but … but …

"_He's seen you practically naked now." _Came that faint voice in the back of my head, and I really wanted to curl up in a corner and cry at that moment. Just great, just _freaking _great! I mentally slapping myself silly, I decided I'd have to just deal with it – There were more important things to be worried about, and it was too late to be throwing a tantrum anyway.

I looked to the stool next to the bed again, to see another pile of clothes, although unlike the last set that were just tossed on the stool, this set was actually placed neatly, and folded. She watched curiously for several moments, before she leant forward slightly, and managed to swing her legs around to hang off the edge of the bed. The injuries hurt a lot, but I was willing to put up with it – I couldn't be carted around by everyone and still hold my chin high and think 'Gee, I've been doing really well looking after myself' when I've been useless. There was another traveling cloak, I noticed as I lifted it and placed it on the bed next to me. The clothes were different … that was the only word I could think of really. I picked the items up one by one carefully, looking down at the material with a glum look across my face. I was hoping they were the same clothes that I had been given before, but they must have been torn to pieces – the pants in any case. The top was an earthen brown colour in the style of a long-sleved tunic with the sleves very long and baggy, with a pair of skin-tight pants the colour of a muddy brown. I was already missing my other clothes, and very nearly wished I'd never gone out to that mansion so my original set picked by someone else was still intact. The image of that painting in the glass room came to my thoughts, and I had to fight it away so I could get dressed.

I pulled on the pants sadly as I drifted off into thought, being _very _careful of the injuries running up my leg. I would have to buy some replacement clothes later – if I found any money for the Makai. I didn't want to stay in these clothes any longer than I had to – no offence to the person that picked them for me. Carefully pulling on the tunic-like top, my uninjured foot nudged something that resembled a shoe. I blinked, looking down at my foot as the sight of a pair of shoes came to my notice. My face lightened up considerably as I recognised the shoes I'd been wearing before – Oh my GOD! THEY SURVIVED THE GLASS FLOOR! Tugging the tunic on hastily, I reached down to the shoes to pull them on quickly, ignoring the pain as it flared – my shoes survived! I didn't understand why, but I was so damn happy they actually survived! The material they were made from were scratched, and worn in lines, but they were still wearable. I reached to the traveling cloak, my happiness beginning to fade as I looked back out at that beach. Kuwabara and Yusuke were still outside, and they didn't look like they were going to come in anytime soon. I pushed the thought from my mind, buttoning the cloak around my shoulders as I looked over to the door again. Kurama was silent for some reason, maybe he was asleep? I very much doubted it though.

My gaze traced back to the window, and I found myself looking at the silhouette that was the forest where Hiei had gone, where my thoughts were once again. I remember _her, _and I remember that monster. It didn't take me too long to pick out that someone had come to my rescue before it freed itself and devoured me. The scent that I had long since ascertained belonged to Hiei was thick in the air when I woke up, as if he had been carrying me again, and as I slowly looked away, I began counting all the times the fire apparition _had _been rescuing my sorry excuse for a 'demon' for the whole time I'd been made aware of the other worlds. I could count a total of six times already, and I didn't know of any times outside of what I'd pieced together from chains of events. Six freaking times he had to either carry me around cause I was too weak, or had to bail me out of trouble altogether, and I couldn't even walk half the time. If I had been putting every ounce of my heart in that training – would I have been able to keep myself safe in that mansion? Would I have managed to keep myself safe enough where I didn't have to be rescued like a pitiful damsel in distress when the whole of Spirit World and some other group were trying their hardest to have me killed because I was a _danger _to them!

"_Probably not." _That wonderful voice in the back of my head spoke, and, I couldn't help but smile sadly. Probably not was probably the right answer. I used to pride myself on not needing anyone's help, and here I am being rescued every damn time I decide to go for a walk! "_But you're not dealing with slimy human men you can drop with a solid kick to the groin." _That voice chimed in again, reminding me of this fact like some back seat driver.

_Then what the hell am I dealing with? _I thought back at that voice in the back of my head, irritation beginning to set in on me as I felt as if I was going insane. _Usagi! _Silence, it seemed, there was no reply. I let out a breath, forcing myself to my feet against the pain of my leg and body. My head swam as I straightened up, an uncomfortable swimming, like my brain had been loosened from the interior of my skull, and was now just free floating in there. It was disorientating, and I almost felt like I was about to fall over. The pain was almost unbarable, but I grit my teeth as I forced myself to remain standing – if I couldn't even take this pain, I might as well curl in a ball outside and wait for some starving demon to come kill me. Not much point surviving if all I could do was lie in bed all the damn time because I couldn't take a _little _pain. I began to walk out of the room, wincing in pain with each and every step I took – well, points for moving without collapsing in a heap on the floor, and without pain killers. I managed to get to the doorway, before I saw Kurama step out from over to the left, where I knew the lounge of the shack was located. He had a look of surprise across his face, though I did understand why – I was up and walking with my injuries as bad as they seemed. Even I was surprised I was able to walk.

"How are you feeling?" Kurama spoke, causing me to smile slightly. It seemed odd for him to ask this when I was clearly up and hobbling around. I realised, as I blinked, that this was the first time I've actually spoken to him since going on that cursed assignment with Hiei, and that bitch, Barnette.

"Much better." I answered, seeing him nod slightly. Though he did look a little perplexed still, he seemed to accept that answer. My voice was still pretty dead, but at least it wasn't completely dead, it was just grainy and weak.

"That's good, but you shouldn't be up just yet." Kurama spoke, and I lost the slight smile after a moment.

"Well, I wanted to go say hello to Yusuke and Kuwabara." I hedged, coming up with a reason to be up – I just wanted to move around – the only real time I've been able to walk was last night. And by gee, did I get my excersise that night. Kurama seemed to smile slightly, but, his eyes held a look that took a real hard knock to my slight happiness at being able to move.

"I wouldn't push yourself." Kurama spoke, warmth in his voice, though that look in his eyes didn't reciprocate that warmth. He said nothing else, turning to head back to the loungeroom as I watched. What was with that look? I didn't like it, it choked the life out of the happiness I had left in me, and a heaviness settled in the back of my throat. He fixed _Me _with that look, like I was the one that had upset him, and it hurt.

_Maybe … he had something happen to him while I was unconscious. _I rationalised in my head, nodding slightly as if agreeing with myself, but I couldn't shake that feeling as I began to hobble towards the door. If that monster decided to pay me another visit, it'd have to catch me, and not bragging or anything, but one munted leg was better than the two smashed up legs the monster had. In a hobbling race, I had the upper hand – it would never keep up with me! I laughed mentally at that, but, I couldnt' stop that uncertain feeling from overcoming me. Well, all I could do was walk and not crumble because of the pain – if I could just do that, then I wouldn't be such a burden to everyone.

I opened the door, looking out at the scene before me. The sun had long since set, and the area was bathed in the light eminating from the giant bon-fire up in the village. I shut the door behind me as I looked over at the blazing bon-fire, managing to hobble down the steps to the sandy beach below. The scene before me looked familiar – I knew it, and the longer I stared at it like a dumbstruck moron, the more certain I was, that I had been here before becoming a fugitive.

_The mansion with the paintings, my memories locked away in the basement, and, the fiddle I can hear everytime I look at that village, _I began, smiling slightly as I closed my eyes slowly. _This really is where I was born._

"_It took you __**this **__long to figure that out?" _Came that same voice in the back of my head, though I shrugged Usagi's statement asside immediately. I did vaguely remember this village, I had a dream of the festival long before I found myself in that basement. I looked over at where Yusuke and Kuwabara were standing, slowly hobbling over as I decided that staring at the bonfire was going to accomplish nothing.

"You don't get it yet?" I heard the faint hints of Yusuke's voice echo, causing me to frown in confusion. I continued to approach, hoping I didn't have to interupt their conversation, but I was already hobling over.

"I don't get what you're going on about, Urameshi." Kuwabara's voice spoke, confusion matching mine echoing in his voice. "You guys just rescued her, I don't see what the big deal's about!"

"You idiot!" Yusuke shouted, stopping me dead in my tracks. I was all of about two, three meters away at most, and yet I still wasn't noticed. I didn't understand what they were arguing about, I just stared like a gaping moron trying to understand what was happening."We can't go home! Okay?"

"Don't be stu-"

"We are fugitives, Kuwabara! Freaking _fugitives!" _Yusuke didn't seem to be calming down, the longer he continued, he seemed to get angrier and angrier. "Do I have to spell it out for you? We _can't go home! _I'm never going to see Keiko again! And you'll never see Yukina again!"

"But – Surely Koenma's -" Kuwabara began hesitantly, but Yusuke cut him off. I could feel my eyes becoming wider the longer I stared.

"KOENMA CAN'T HELP US!" Yusuke practically yelled, his fists at his sides shaking violently as he clearly fought to remain as calm as he could, which was yelling at Kuwabara. I stepped forward, opening my mouth to try and speak, but my voice didn't want to work anymore. "WE'RE ON OUR OWN NOW BECAUSE-"

"Because of what? Because you guys didn't just _leave _her there?" Kuwabara cut in, anger filling his voice as well.

"YES KUWABARA!" Yusuke shouted, and I felt as if I had just been slapped. It was hard for me to breath – a lump had appeared in my throat, and I couldn't seem to breathe because of it. "WE SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT HER FOR DEAD! ITS NOT LIKE SHE WASN'T ALREADY DEAD TO BEGIN WITH! BUT WE DIDN'T AND IT'S ALL HER FAU-" I flinched, each of his words stabbing into me like he was physically attacking me. They both cut themselves off, Kuwabara turning around immediately as they both realised they weren't alone. Horror took over Kuwabara's entire being, he stared at me, however, Yusuke just looked at me with that look, that same _look_ that Kurama had. Why- did he just say they should have left me for dead? Did he really mean it? I stumbled back a pace as my knees continued to shake, and, it was in that moment that I saw that very same look flicker in Kuwabara's face. Why? What was that look they kept on giving me? That look that hurt me more than Yusuke having just said they should have left me for dead?

"_It's Resent they have towards you." _Came Usagi's voice, like a sledgehammer through a stained-glass window. "_They __**all **__blame you for their problems, because if you stayed dead, they'd have their cosy lives to content themselves with." _I blinked, feeling the lines of burning warmth gush down the sides of my face. Could – Could that be it? Yusuke just finished saying it's all my fault. Did he wish they left me for dead? Did they all wish I was dead?

"M-Meia- it's not what you-" I heard _someone_ begin, but, as I shut my eyes tight, I felt my body suddenly turn – I couldn't feel any pain, nothing, and as my body acted on it's own, that pain of dying all over again overcame my whole form. I heard no attempts to stop me – they didn't move, or say anything else. That was it – wasn't it? They did blame me for their problems! They wished they never saved me – that they let me die! That whoever was chasing me _did _kill me! That was the only thing I could think of, the only thing running through my head as my lungs screamed for air, and my heart screamed cardiac arrest.

My body slammed into something suddenly, a blinding white flash of light smacked me in the eyes, causing my eyes to snap open from shock, I felt hands suddenly grab me by the shoulders to stop me from falling backwards as the flash came back, causing my eyes to water more than they already were – the scent of fire met my senses, and all I could seem to see, was the watery blurs of black and greys.

"I-I-I—I'm sorry-" I managed to speak, attempting to step back and continue my sprint to god-knows-where, but those hands kept me somewhat still. Why-why wouldn't they let me-

"_Baka Onna." _Grumbled a faintly familiar voice in the back of my head, causing me to snap my gaze straight up to who had spoken – to the only other person, aside from Usagi, who could talk to me in my own head. I could feel more pain filling my body, I still couldn't breathe, and fear filled every ounce of able emotion space – I couldn't handle seeing one more person resenting me – please don't-

I saw a look of perplexed irritation to his face, despite the darkness shadowing most of his form from my watery gaze. I stared, helplessly searching for that resent I felt certain was in his gaze as well – it had to be there. But, there was no resent, no nothing except for irritation now as my shaking form grew worse, and, as my gaze watered over, an aching emotion that wasn't betrayal overcame me. Tears gushed down the sides of my face as I fought to get a hold of myself, however, as the lack of oxygen finally took it's toll, my legs gave out on me as my consciousness faded to black.


	62. Walk On Vanity Ruins

The next chapter of the few I have uploaded now. And I will begin working on the next chapters immediately! I'm looking forward to getting back on track with my writing! Oh, and informing all of you that have been sitting there staring at the other works of mine and wondered what the hell is going on, cause they've been untouched for the past year - TFOB reaches close to the end, I'll be taking them down for reworking, so don't worry - they're not abandoned.

_**-{The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY TWO: Walk On Vanity Ruins**_

The dull thrumming of a more stable heartbeat pumped gently against my internally bruised ribcage. Unlike before where it felt like my heart was trying to break free of my ribcage, my heart felt content locked away where it should be. The sounds of the sweeping wind met my hearing before the sounds of the caressing waves, and in that sense, it was more calming than hearing the waves move back and forth against the sandy beaches that caused me nothing but pain. I opened my eyes groggily, feeling my eyes protest as my gaze fell upon the ground at my feet. There was grass at my feet, lush, green grass faintly illuminated by the full moon up in the sky. I shifted slightly, to find that I was sitting somewhat upright, leaning against the trunk of a rather comfortable tree. I blinked wearily, staring down at the grass as I tried to figure out what was going on – why was I not back in the shack, waking up from a horrible nightmare to find that it was all a figment of my messed up imagination?

I lifted my gaze from the grass after several moments, looking out at the scenery before me. I must have imagined bumping into Hiei, since I was out in the middle of the forest. Must have imagined it – he'd have just dragged me back to the shack if I really did collapse right there in front of him. Where those people could stare at me with regret, and resentment, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. I blinked slowly, sitting up slightly as my back seemed to protest against the way I was leaning against the tree trunk. I blinked as something slipped down a little bit from my shoulders, looking down in confusion, to see a familiar looking coat that belonged to a certain fire apparition that she shouldn't have bumped into. I stared at it like an imbecile for a few moments, before I shifted my terrible gaze around to the forest around me. Okay, it must have been what, not that long after I walked overheard that wonderful conversation, which meant it was probably around eight at night, in sunlight conversion. I lowered my gaze again as I wondered – why did Hiei leave me out here, instead of just taking me back to the shack. It made more sense.

"_Not that you ever needed anything to make sense for you."_ Came Usagi's voice in the back of my head, however, I merely looked down at my feet. The scent of fire and ash was in the area, and, the scent was thick around me. I let out a breath as I closed my eyes slowly, realising that once again, I had been carried around by Hiei. I was really beginning to feel like a burden to everyone around me. I lifted my left leg up to my chest as I leant forward, letting my slashed leg rest on the grass around my other leg, and, I rest my chin upon my knee. My injuries didn't seem to hurt, but I wasn't going to test that theory all that much.

I did begin to wonder where Koenma was … I hadn't seen him since that assignment … and I was beginning to become worried. At that moment, Koenma seemed more friendly than the other three, and I couldn't help but bite down on my lip as I wondered – was that my fault as well? At first glance the answer was no, but … those three had the same look when they looked at me. Even Kuwabara, in all his stupidity, was one that I had thought wouldn't waver to someone elses point of view, and yet, as if by miraculous chain of events, he looked at me, the exact same way as Yusuke.

"It must be my fault." I spoke, closing my eyes as I let out a breath wearily. It wasn't like anyone was going out of their way to tell me it wasn't.

"_I know you didn't __**mean **__it to be your fault," _Usagi piped up, as if she was trying to be helpful, however I could hear that sinister smirk in her voice.

"Yeah …" I spoke, leaning back into the tree trunk as sitting foreward with my injuries was just making it uncomfortable. I could hear the high-pitched swishing of air being sliced, and as I looked around for the source of the noise, I couldn't see anything of interest, or remotely related to that swift slicing of air. Deciding it was pathetic to just sit there, wallowing at the stab in the back I received, I managed to drag myself to my feet to find Hiei and return his coat. It was nice of him to lend it to me though, but I couldn't -seem to remember if I was conscious, or still passed out when he clearly leant it to me. Probably unconscious, I thought as I looked around. I folded the coat carefully, holding it in my grip as I began to walk around the huge tree. I must have been in a huge forest, I couldn't see anything other than tree and grass, and I was beginning to wonder if I was lost? The glimpse of movement to my left caught my attention, and I slowed to a halt as I looked over.

Hiei was standing in the clearing, his back to me as I watched. He had his sword drawn, and as I looked at the sword, he seemed to slash at something I couldn't see. Perhaps he was training? I let out a breath as I looked back at Hiei's back. It had been so long since I had had a training session out at Genkai's, and I was beginning to miss it. It wasn't like anyone here would help me with training my abilities anymore, I had better get used to being inept with what strange abilities of mine that centred in mirrors. Or anything that was made of glass, as I remembered. All those windows and lights in the Shopping District blew up because of me, didn't they? I banshed the thought from my mind as I felt as if Usagi was about to pipe up, and I took to watching the fire apparition as he continued to slash at the air. I thought for a few moments, wondering if I actually did hear that disagreement Yusuke and Kuwabara were having. Clearly, I had, since I was suddenly out here with Hiei, but I couldn't help but hope to god that I had dreamed up the whole thing. I seemed to be hoping I dreamt up a lot of things of late, but this took the cake.

I could guess – it wouldn't have hurt as much, and neither would staying dead like Yusuke said it should have been. I hated doubting myself like this, but what could I do? No one said 'It's alright, we'll figure something out', or even 'Don't worry, it's not your fault'. I blinked as the swishing of air was now gone, and as I actually looked at what was in front of me, I almost jumped as Hiei was no longer 'over in the clearing', but standing just in front of me, and he was staring down at me with that strangely bored look he wore when he walked past earlier. I blinked again, immediately handing over his coat as I felt like an imbecile. I still didn't know what to say around this one.

"Thank you." I spoke quietly, earning a strange look as Hiei took back his coat. I hesitantly placed one hand over the elbow of my other hanging arm, looking up at Hiei hesitantly as he eyed me oddly. "But … why did you bring me out here?" I could have slapped myself as I blurted that out, and just as I expected, he eyed me with an irritated frown. "N-never mind ..." I spoke, hanging my head as I could feel complete embarassment overcoming me. I heard him remain silent as he turned and began to head over to where he had been standing before, the whoosing of material cutting through the air echoed for just a moment, and, he drew his sword as I hesitantly looked up at him again. Just like before he stopped, he was in the same place, training with his sword as he slashed at the air, however, he was turned to the side, and I could see the side of his face as he continued to train. I let out a breath, sitting myself down against the tree again as I pulled my traveling cloak over my form to try and shield against the cold.

For someone who had their leg gashed open, their side sliced open in three places, and with enough knocks to the head to need permanent padding for future run-ins with monsters, I seemed to be rather pain free – hell, I was even walking normally just then. All those burns and cuts from before were painless – I had long since forgotten they were even there, and that hole where my heart was from my little 'episode' in that cave was practically healed – I was fairly certain there was just a surface wound left. I hoped my new injuries would heal just as fast, if not faster. I didn't question it, nor did I ponder about it. My memories told me it would take a few days for my memories to settle in place, and I would remember trickles until they were properly settled, and that included the rest of my demon traits I'd been missing. I looked down at my hands after several moments, staring down at the faintly visible veins in silence. She also told me, I'd remember how my energy worked soon, and I was thankful. My body seemed to do strange things when I was under too much stress – I was amazed my body didn't tear me into pieces at the worst of that disagreement. I cringed as I imagined just what would have happened – my heart would have probably exploded, if my lungs didn't first.

My body was still heavy and hard to move – I guessed I was still suffering the effects of stress-induced asphyxiation. I think, I would have coped if they didn't look at me with the resentment, but, fate wasn't ever nice to me. Not even once. It'd tempt me with the tiniest degree of joy – There was being accepted in my Music Arts course at University, then I trip over a kitten in my own home, and end up being told I was now a prisoner of Spirit World, then there was Koenma telling me I could leave the Spirit Detective Household _on my own _during the day, then I'm dragged into a mirror, and end up dying. Fate really seemed to have it out for me, and I was beginning to hate that stingy bitch. The _one _thing that I wanted in the whole world right now, was for someone to understand and admit that it wasn't my fault, and _not _resent me because their life had taken a sudden turn. But I guessed that was too much to ask for, now, wasn't it?

A faint chuckle snapped me straight out of my thoughts as soon as I'd heard it, and I blinked as looked at the only person it could have come from. I stared, my eyes wide as I saw a smirk across the fire apparitions face, and it made me suddenly paranoid – Oh shit, he probably heard all of that because he had to listen to me when I was mute for some reason!

"Wh-what's so funny?" I questioned, my feeble and weak voice shaking slightly as I stared at him, however, I received no answer as he continued to slash away at the wind, and a deep shade of red touched my face. He wasn't going to tell me, and what made it worse was the fact that I knew he'd been listening the whole time. Oh great, he'd heard me whining like a little bitch about everything I could think of that was going wrong! And once again, I found myself practically swearing at Fate as she seemed to be laughing at me. If that woman was a corproeal being and not an expression, I would take a baseball bat to that smug, egotistical face of hers. I blinked, a thoughtful expression touching my face – If I somehow gathered items enough to make a 'Fate' doll, I could metaphorically beat the living hell out of it and feel happy for the rest of my probably short-lived life! I blinked as I saw a faintly amused look across Hiei's face, and I felt a little confused – what the hell did I think to have him amused for some reason? I wasn't really trying to think humerously or anything. I blinked, frowning slightly as I actually pictured what I'd been thinking of, and, all I could come up with, was a demented looking, giant weather doll with a stuck up rich snob 'looking down at pesants' expression on it's face, and dressed in a strange form of arabian clothes. Probably vomit pink. No, that's a bit too far. Probably a muddy green. Yeah, that sounded more like it.

"No, it needs something else." I found myself speaking, however, I crossed my arms as I really tried to figure out what would complete the toffee-nosed, snobbish fate image I was looking for, staring at the ground at my feet as I tried to wrack my concussed and asphyxiated brain to try and think of something. Spectacles? No … doesn't fit … What the hell would work with an Arabian Outfit? I blinked, noticing that Hiei had stopped with his training, and he was staring at me with a look that had me forget what I was thinking about – he looked torn between irritation, and just blatantly confused, probably with a little bit of exasperation in there as well. "What?" I spoke, my voice holding a lot better than before – it held some of my original voice, and it lifted my spirits a bit. Hiei frowned, shaking his head, and going back to his training. I blinked, deciding to stop with my train of thought before I earned anymore strange looks, and I merely watched in silence. I didn't want to go back to the shack, I was more comfortable here, even though I was cold, and sitting here doing nothing. It was so much better than sitting in that room while everyone else moped around me.

"Where are we going next?" I asked after several moments, seeing Hiei look over at me again, a little bit of exasperated irritation across his face. I wasn't stupid – Yusuke yelled at the top of his lungs that we all were fugitives – because of me – and I knew that meant we'd have to relocate soon, before someone tracked us down. Or tracked me down, more to the point.

"Yusuke has found somewhere." Hiei spoke, and I blinked at the lack of something in his face and tone of voice – I had been expecting something, but it wasn't there. "When the fools decide they're ready, we leave." I let out a breath, looking over towards where I felt the village was.

"That's good. I really hate this place." I spoke, drifting off into thought for a few moments. I vaguely remembered some asshole called Edward, and I didn't want to stay long enough to have him realise I'm back in town. It was strange, vaguely remembering little pieces, but not the rest of it. Maybe I remembered this Edward, because of that dream I had before I woke up in that cave, where I was with this man called Victor, who I kept on calling 'Papa'. I smiled wryly to myself, glaring at the ground. A papa that decided that _rescuing _me from that basement was striping me of my memories.

"_Aha, so you hate that man, do you?" _Usagi's voice piped up, and I found myself looking up into the tree branches, to see the sickeningly familiar sight of that black rabbit staring down at me, with her eyes screaming bloodlust. _"Not that I blame you or anything, he did leave you down there with all those half dead demons." _Half dead demons? Oh, that explained what all those demon skeletons were doing down there in that basement. I didn't remember that part, only that I hated looking at the water when I was down there. I shivered, remembering that hanging skeleton that scared the hell out of me.

"_No, I just hate what he did." _I thought with certainty, and, once again, I felt Hiei look at me. I blinked, looking at the fire apparition in response, however, he wasn't looking at me, and was still training with his sword.

"_I beg to differ." _Usagi replied, a snicker in her voice as she eyed me darkly.

"_Just because you've spent fourteen years inside my head with me, doesn't mean you know me better than I do!" _I grumbled, looking up at Usagi again, to see her glazed white eyes narrow slightly.

"_Eighteen years to be precise." _Usagi corrected, and I glared up at her.

"_And you think those two years when I was a toddler is going to make you all that more powerful and almighty?"_ I questioned, and I when I blinked, the black rabbit was gone from the tree branch.

"_That fire apparition is looking at you."_ Usagi spoke, and I felt all of my irritation intensify as she seemed to snicker.

"_I really, __**really**__ wish I wasn't the only one that can __**see **__you!"_ I snapped, glaring down at my lap, where I knew Usagi had relocated to. "_It would make me so damn happy to know I'm not being driven __**insane**__!"_

"_Tough luck, you're stuck as a loner looney." _Usagi snickered, and I had half the mind to smack her. But all that would succeed in doing, was making me look like I'd lost my mind, at least, a bit more anyway.

I let out a breath, ignoring Usagi for a while as I stared at the skies above me.


	63. Sunrise Deterioration

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY THREE: Sunrise Deterioration**_

The Makai skies held the colours of purple as the rising sun continued to rise up out of the sunken horizon in the distance. My weary attention was upon the strange skies as red began to mix in with the purple. The haze belonging to the evaporating sea water hung like a blury tone of white against a mostly dark sky. In my peripheral vision, I could see Hiei sitting in the tree branches to the far right, at least ten meters above ground level. He'd stopped training not that long ago, and just sat up there for some reason. I probably wouldn't know why he chose to sit up there, but I had the suspicion that this wasn't some once-off thing for him to sit up there. I hadn't moved either, and I had been here for around four hours – and the sun was rising, so I must have been out of it for at least a few hours myself before I woke up.

I did begin to wonder what I was going to do next – everywhere I went, I was a fugitive, and I seemed to be dragging everyone into the same mess the longer I stayed. Inwardly, the quiet voice belonging to my subconscious kept on reminding me of what Yusuke had said – that they should have left me for dead. I let out a weary breath as I continued to stare off into the distance. That maybe so, but why did he have to say everything was my fault? It couldn't _all _be my fault, right? I reasoned with my bubbling pit of confused and butchered emotions, but my stomach kept on protesting, and that sickeningly increased guilt of mine just told me Yusuke was right. I let out a breath slowly, turning my head to place my gaze upon the pale skin of my hands. There were many papercut-like cuts all over my hands, and I had splinters in my hands from that stick I had used against that monster, but other than that, mostly undamaged.

I hadn't done all that much with my hands – I'd been unconscious for a great amount of time, if not being dragged around, and that night in the mansion was the only time I'd been able to do anything. Probably because I was all on my own. My gaze trailed the noticeable veins that ran along my hands, and, as I stared down at them, I could feel my boredom beginning to make me consider some stupid stuff. Draging myself from the thoughts of going back in that mansion to see what else I could find, I felt a glare reach me from up in the treetops. My left eye twitched slightly as I felt a little irritated.

"_Look, I wasn't really going to go back there!" _I thought bitterly, and, that glare left the side of my face. Despite all this problem with me getting everyone on the chopping block, I did notice a little while ago, that the look of Resent had never even touched the fire apparition's face in the whole time I'd been conscious to look at him. That was probably the reason I felt so much more comfortable here, around the grumpy Hiei that rarely spoke, instead of the talkative beings that had nothing but resentment written across their faces. And either which way, subconsiously, I felt safer with the fire apparition around. I wasn't stupid, I had counted how many times I knew he bailed me out of trouble before, and now that I wasn't hit by a steam-roller of blame and resentment, I could actually appreciate how much he begrudgingly helped me, and I could appreciate how much that actually meant to me.

I let out a breath as I looked up from my hands, and, as the far-off rustling of bushes came to my notice, I blinked as I saw Hiei drop down from the treetop – how the hell he managed to land from a ten meter drop and not have pain rush through his legs was beyond me – it just looked painful to me. I looked at Hiei, blinking in confusion as he stepped towards me a little bit, however, he kept his gaze upon where that rustling was approaching from. I decided, it was probably appropriate to get to my feet as well, and my body was stiff as I managed to force myself to my feet – just getting up at this moment was painful. It had me curious, was whatever in the bushes a danger? If it wasn't, would Hiei have stayed all the way up in the treebranches? Or would he have come down anyway? I remained silent, and as looked to the bushes, the familiar form of someone I vaguely remembered stumbled out, exhaustion and desperation written clear across the familiar face. I could feel my eyes widen in shock, staring at the young man as he clutched a deep blue book with a wooden cover close to his chest.

"K-Koenma?" I couldn't help but say, and, practically on cue, the Spirit World Ruler looked straight at Hiei and myself with a look of pure shock. He looked a real mess – his clothes were torn and stained with many days worth of grime and sweat, and his hair was unkempt. Keeping injuries out of the mix, he was in worse condition than me, and I was the one just brought back from the dead, and had another close call with death myself. He was still clutching to that strange book as if for dear life, and as the Spirit World Ruler dragged himself to his weak feet, I couldn't help but wonder what he'd been doing all this time. Couldn't he have summoned a portal for himself? I surely had never even considered that the spoilt toddler would have ever gone _without _a portal.

"Meia—Hiei!" Koenma spoke, and a great weariness hung in his voice. "I'm so glad I've managed to catch up! When I saw the state Dante's body was in, I thought-"

"Dante?" I spoke, confusion clearly audiable in my voice. Who the hell was this Dante Koenma had just mentioned? I had no idea, though I had clearly been dead while we were within distance of this Dante.

"The Necromancer who brought you back." Koenma spoke, and he spoke with haste for some reason – not that I blamed him, he had obviously been traveling a great distance, and a lot had happened since I saw him seated behind that desk, with George running around with a butterfly net to catch little birds. "Are the others around? I need to speak with everyone." I lowered my gaze as I realised who Koenma was talking about, and as I looked back at Koenma again, I saw that he was looking from Hiei, to myself, then back to Hiei again.

"They're at this shack in a village around here." I spoke, biting my lip as I pushed asside my distaste for going back to that shack. I looked back at Hiei, to see he was just as silent, and with that normal 'I'm only listening cause you control my sentence papers' look across his face. I vaguely remembered Koenma mentioning that Hiei was a convicted felon. Maybe … that explained why Hiei didn't look at me like they did – he didn't care either which was as long as he got his way. I was snapped from my thoughts as Hiei merely turned and began to walk off, causing me to look back at him in confusion.

"Where're you going?" I called after Hiei, however, I got no response from him in the least – he didn't even show any sign of even hearing me, though I knew otherwise. Letting out a weary breath, I looked back at Koenma, to see him eyeing Hiei strangely. "I think the village is this way." I spoke hesitantly, motioning towards the direction Hiei had disappeared. I saw Koenma give me a slightly strange look, causing me to lower my gaze after a few moments, and I began to walk onwards, where Hiei had disappeared to. I could hear following footsteps, and I looked over at Koenma as I wondered – why he was looking so ragged. I really didn't believe that Koenma would be on the run too, there was no way he could be a fugitive like me … like the whole lot of us. He was the prince of Spirit World, not some person that had no real ties, and just performed a paying job like people would in the human world. No freaking way.

"Is there any reason Hiei and yourself are out here alone?" Koenma asked after several moments, and I looked back at him to see, that he was walking next to me, and in equal stride with me. He wasn't looking at me, though I knew full well he was with his attention on me alright. I looked back to the area in front of me, feeling a little uncomfortable with the question, though only because it prompted me to think of those looks they'd been giving me ever since I woke up.

"I … kinda had a disagreement with Yusuke and Kuwabara earlier tonight." I spoke, letting out a breath as I moved – remarkably I wasn't feeling all that much pain, despite walking so damn much. "I kinda bumped into Hiei afterwards, and I think I fell asleep, cause I woke up here a few hours ago."

"I see." Koenma spoke, and a grave tone was in his voice. Despite the fact that he was the all knowing, all seeing overseer, I had the suspicion that he hadn't been able to see what had been going on, and at the very least, had to come to some assumptions, since we'd been out of contact with him since before I woke up in that cave. "I had been wondering why you looked so miserable."

"Is that so?" I commented, drifting off into light thought as I stepped over a rather large log in the path through the forest. My gaze flicked back to Koenma, and once again, I looked down at that book he held in his grip. It was really beginning to bother me – I knew I had no real right to speculate about it, and I certainly didn't know if Koenma read books or not, but why go trecking through the Makai clutching a book for dear life? It seemed counter-producive to dragging yourself through a forest that would sooner eat you than make friends with you.

"How long have you all been here?" Koenma questioned, and I blinked slowly as the tiniest hints of a village came to notice through the trees. I slowly began to calculate days and nights, and, I could pick this to be the second morning since getting here, which would make it … 40 hours since arriving, I'd say.

"Just under two days." I answered, and I saw the tiniest hints of an incline of Koenma's head as we reached the edge of the forest. "I have no idea where we were before, I think, I'd been unconscious for most of the time."

"That's quite likely." Koenma spoke, and I looked back at him after a few moments. "Considering the state we found you in, it would have taken a lot out of you to have you revived." I lowered my gaze, slowing to a halt as I thought on that statement. It didn't … really feel like all that much was taken out of me when I woke up, although I wouldn't really know. I did feel, though, as if something more than just reviving me had been done. My mind seared burning hot white pain each and every time someone touched me, and I felt different when I managed to actually move. My heart felt heavier than it used to, like there were chains hanging from it to sway and weigh me down.

""_That's because they scrambled your soul up a little bit." _I heard that familiar chiming of Usagi's voice in the back of my head, however I chose to ignore her sniggering.

"_Shut up." _I thought back to her, and I heard her mutter something incoherrently as I looked back at Koenma again. He'd come to a halt, looking at me in confusion as I remained mostly silent and motionless. I wanted, no, _needed _to ask him why they decided to revive me. I needed to know, so much it hurt when I stopped myself from speaking those words, but, it wasn't the right time for that. I was awaiting an interrogation, and I wasn't looking forward to it – Of course there would be an interrogation, the only person that _had _really been speaking to me ever since I was resurected, was Hiei, and that was a shocker in itself. Koenma would want all the details – how I was coping, if there was anything wrong with my body, and what happened when I was dragged through that mirror. It was strange already that he was leaving the questions already. He probably wanted to talk with everyone else at the same time.

"Meia?" Koenma spoke, and, I slowly closed my eyes as I stepped forward to continue on my way towards the shack that we'd been staying in this whole time.

"It's nothing." I spoke, looking over towards the water that began to become illuminated against the early morning skies. The return of those footsteps came to my notice, and I had a hard time pushing my questions to the back of my mind – not mow, it's too soon. I'd content myself with asking once they'd made their interrogation, and they would have no right in keeping their lids shut tight.

The wind howled relentlessly, screaming against the lifeless trees as it streamed through with the force of a ferocious thunderstorm. The far off rumbling of thunder echoed faintly in amongst the howling shrieks of the wind, and as the grounds remaiend a dark, lifeless grey, the far off glimmers of lighting lit up the skies, for no longer than an instance, before veiling everything below in the dark shadows of the unnatural darkness. The chains running along the ground were no longer moving, remaining motionless against the sandy ground, and the reflections in the crystalised mirror trees were a smokey grey, only pale tones shifted within the usually crystal clear surface.

A small, petit form stood against one of the trees within the windy clearing, her shadowed gaze upon the lake without a shift in expression, or gaze. Chains hung from her body in uncomfortable places, and, despite this fact, she was able to stand with those chains embedded within her own soul. The winds surged with the force of an unnatural turbulence, as if it were the physical inbalance of the inner world itself. She stared out at the darkness, a weariness filling her expression as she began to think of things that brought her discomfort. Tired of being dragged around, and tired of having people blame things on her, she could only retreat to the blank darkness of her mind to cleans the day's bickering from her consciousness.

"That's not healthy for you." Came a sniggering voice over the howling winds, faintly, though the young woman merely opened her eyes to stare up at the blackness that was the howling winds. "You should just ditch those bumbling fools and leave on your own! You'd be better off." The form of a little black rabbit appeared, in the treebranches above the young woman's head, and even though the young woman remained silent and motionless, the rabbit's voice chuckled darkly. "And you should do that when they're asleep – just vanish into thin air like you did before!"

The woman remained motionless, despite the prattling from the little black rabbit, and, her eyes slowly closed as the howling of the winds became far worse.


	64. Soul Neglect

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR: Soul Neglect**_

A tense silence had descended the shack upon our arrival back – I could immediately tell that everyone was inside, however, they didn't say anything, or even move when I walked in nimbly. Three sets of eyes were upon me, their owners sitting on the chairs around the table as I glanced over, I guessed that they were all informed of that little incident with Yusuke and Kuwabara. I remained silent and headed into that spare room they'd been putting me in, when I heard sudden gasps echo as Koenma walked into the shack. Not that I wasn't expecting it – I had the same reaction when I saw the battered Spirit World Ruler stumble through the bushes as well.

"Koenma!" Kurama's voice cut in through the silence, shock in his voice as well. I remained silent, closing the door behind me as I looked around the little room I had spent more time unconscious in, than conscious. There was blood over the blankets, clearly my own from the sickly sweet scent to it, and as I raised an eyebrow at my own thoughts, I guessed, I was remembereing more from my instant acknowledgement of scent of blood. Shaking my head slightly, I pushed asside the feverent chatting in the other room as I looked over the remaining items in the room. Only a few scarce bandages, a little bag on the stool next to the bed and the blankets, I let out a weary breath as I eyed them for a few moments, before looking back at the little bag on the stool. It seemed odd for it to be there, and as I traced back in my thoughts, I realised the bag wasn't there before.

Stepping over to the stool, I sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping my eyes upon the bag for several moments. It was made of a deep, cerulean blue material with two black stings around the neck, soft to the touch as I lifted it from the stool. The bag held a bit of weight, and as I opened it out of confusion, I spotted a piece of paper, folded up enough so it would fit in the little bag. The bag sat neatly in the palm of my hand, and as I pulled the little piece of paper from the bag, I looked at the rest of the contents. Blinking in confusion as I noticed the contents were nothing but coins – and a descent amount of them as well. I looked back at the piece of paper, unfolding it carefully, to see just two words – Sorry Meia. I let out another breath, studying the handwriting for several moments. It wasn't Kurama's handwriting, I knew that instantly, and as I eyed it for another few moments, I let out a breath as I came to the conclusion that it was either Yusuke or Kuwabara by elimination – most likely Kuwabara. Yusuke still had that look across his face when he walked in, and it didn't take long for me to pick that he was still moody about that disagreement I walked in on.

I wasn't sure of how much the money totaled to, or even if it was worth a lot at all, but, as I looked down at it, I had half the mind not to accept it and just leave it there. Half the mind. I looked away from it after a few moments, pulling the draw strings to close the money-purse as I carefully placed it in the inner pocket of my traveling cloak. I couldn't really complain, if there was enough, I'd get a better top than this, and, if there wasn't, I was fairly certain there was enough for something to eat – My stomach actually groaned at that, and as I began to calculate days, I picked that I hadn't eaten anything since I was resurected. So, that made it … a little over a week. I wonder why my stomach didn't make that fact clear, until I thought of finding something to eat? I shrugged it off as that chatter in the next room contined, placing my gaze upon the glass of the window in front of me.

"_So my name is really Umiko is it?"_ I wondered as I observed the way the bottom parts of the windowpanes were thicker than the top parts, showing that the glass itself was still a _very _thick liquid, like normal glass should be.

"_Yes, your name is Umiko." _Came Usagi's voice, and I let out a weary breath as I propped my right elbow onto my knee, and propped my chin up on the face-up palm of my hand. "_You have those stupid Human Doctors to thank for your fake name." _

"_Really? So how did they come up with Meia for me?"_ I wondered, slowly observing the way the strange sunlight of the makai made the sand look like it was melting ever so slowly.

"_They asked you for your name, but you were asking for your tramp of a mother." _I blinked at Usagi's snap, and as I looked over to where the silhouette of a rabbit was, I couldn't help but stare at her oddly.

"_So, they got Meia from …?"_

"_Maria." _Usagi spoke curtly, and I let out one more breath after a moment. I remembered a bitchy woman in that basement, for some reason. Maybe that was her. _"Yes, that was her."_

"_Then, how did I end up in the human world? I distinctly remember being chained up down there."_ I thought, looking back at the window as I began to wonder on that. Silence met my thoughts, and as I began to grow a little agitated, I noticed movement in the village – people were going around at their own leisure, and I could faintly see stalls up in the village. I looked away from the window, and to the door after several moments. Surely, they would let me walk around the area around a hundred meters away – hell, I knew they could get there in a matter of moments if there was trouble, or, in the more likely case, drag my ass back .because they suddenly needed to talk to me or something!

"_Why don't you just ditch them?" _Usagi's voice piped up after a moment, and I frowned as I saw her silhouette appear just upon the windowsill as I blinked, and, I couldn't help but frown at her a little more. _"It's not like they're not regretting resurecting you anyway. They've made it clear about what they think of you, so why don't you just bolt and pretend they never existed!" _

"_That's not even remotely funny."_ I thought, and I saw the rabbit vanish as I blinked.

"_I wasn't trying to be funny."_ Usagi spoke, and in the faintest hints of the reflection in the glass window, I could see that Usagi was now resting upon the top of my head.

"_Well it sounded like it."_ I thought back at Usagi, and I dragged myself back onto my feet. Yes, if they would let me walk out of the house, going to the village and tracking down something to eat or drink would be good. Heck, if there was enough money, I even thought I should track down some kind of weapon – anything! I was hating wandering into some place and having to run for my god-damn life because I didn't have any real way to defend myself.

"_Until you remember how your abilities work, isn't that right?" _Usagi spoke, and I refused to answer her on that one – I just glared at the window as I began to walk towards the door again. Suppose it was now or never – they wouldn't let me do anything once it was nightfall, I was certain of that. I pushed open the door after a few moments, hearing the murmering of voices cut off, and I felt a couple of gazes look up at me. I looked at Koenma after a moment, seeing him seated on the stool in front of the fireplace, and Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara were seated on other chairs around the lounge. I didn't need to look over to see the fire apparition seated upon a windowsill, with his gaze upon the outside.

"Meia? Where are you going?" I heard Kurama's voice speak, and I let out a breath as I began to walk towards the door.

"Just to the village." I spoke honestly, and I opened the door before I heard anyone begin to object.

"You shouldn't-"

"Don't be too long—I need to speak with you." Came Koenma's voice over Kurama, causing me to look back over at the spirit world ruler. I eyed him for a moment, before inclining my head forward in agreement, and walking out of the shack alltogether.

"_That toddler certainly has a lot of faith in you." _Usagi chimed in, and I rolled my eyes as I began to walk up the sandy beach to the path that lead up to the village. "_That's good, it means you can bail without them noticing too soon." _

"_That's not why I'm heading to the village, and you know it!" _I snapped at Usagi, my feet touching gravel as I reached the path. _"I'm just out to get something to eat, maybe find something sharp and pointy to carry around, and, if need be, something to tie my bloody hair back."_ I cursed, almost slipping as the gravel beneath my feet suddenly shifted.

"_Why don't you just cut it all off? Not like it's going to do you any good keeping it long like that."_ Usagi spoke, and, I blinked as I thought on that. I passed the gate leading into the village, looking around slowly at the early morning markets that were strange to me for some reason. _"It's better than having some demon grab you by the hair, and you're stuck there about to be killed because of it."_

"_Maybe you're right."_ I thought, looking down at my blue hair as I walked. I had to admit, I wasn't actually attached to it or anything, I just couldn't be bothered in getting it cut before. I looked ahead of me, thinking on it for a while. _"If I ever got back to being left alone in the Human world, I wouldn't have to spend so much money on conditioner."_

"_Geeze. You really are a pampered princess on the inside." _Usagi's voice spoke, exasperation coating the tones in her voice thickly. I frowned slightly, looking down at the split ends in my long hair. I suppose, it was time for a change, and I had to accept that having long hair could quite possibly be a liability here, just as Usagi said.

"_Right, a hair cut it is." _I thought back to Usagi, though I knew for a fact that I was probably going to be the one to cut my hair. _"You better not make me take a chunk out of the wrong place or anything."_

"_A buzz cut will fix that."_ Usagi's mocking voice spoke, and I couldn't stop the disgusted look from creeping onto my face.

"_I already know that would look terrible on me." _I spoke back, looking around at the many stalls that just seemed to appear overnight – they weren't here when Hiei brought me through the village first, and when I wandered through myself. Although they were probably day traders, and each time I'd been through before was when they had closed and gone elsewhere. Maybe that was it? I did begin to wonder what day of the week it was now.

"_Tuesday, in human world translation." _Usagi answered for me, and I smiled slightly.

"_So that means it was a weekend when I came through?" _I wondered, and I heard Usagi scoff slightly. _"What?"_

"_The Makai has no trivial day systems like your false world does." _Usagi spoke, a tone of mockery in her voice, but I didn't notice as I began to look around the centre of the village. I remember stalls for a festival at night, but, other than that, I didn't really know there were stalls outside of festivities. Of course there was, stupid! Where else would these beings all get their items from the other side of the Makai? Traveling merchants, just like in the Human world!

"_The first smart thing that's come out of you for a while." _Usagi spoke, and I glared slightly. She had a magical ability called sarasm that stripped me of my happiness quite quickly. I continued to look around the little stalls, my attention being caught by a stall in particular holding an assortment of weapons and armor. I came to a halt, my gaze trailing along the small daggers and shortswords all in a kind of delicate arrangement. Thinking to myself, I decided that, before food, I should grab a weapon of sorts – who knows? I might have just enough to buy a weapon, and not food or anything else. Food was important, but I needed something to defend myself with, so, as I gazed down at a few of the daggers that were with a kind of wave design to them, I reached into the pocket of my cloak, for that bag of money that someone had left for me. The number on the weapons were in alotments of hundreds, and as I let out a breath, I began to examine how much money I actually had. The coins were difficult for me to read – they were in a language I couldn't understand, and as my irritation began to set in, I began to wonder if I even had enough to buy a weapon with to begin with.

"_What one are you after?" _Usagi spoke, and I blinked as I heard boredom and irritance in her voice. I looked back at the daggers, seeing one about the length of my forearm, and in the shape of a broad wave. The dagger was in a set of two, and as I blinked, I guessed they weren't daggers, but a kind of short sword pair, maybe like sai?

"_The ones with the wave pattern." _I answered, feeling more than certain that I would only be able to afford the hilt of _one _of them.

"_You want to hand the demon three of the gold coins._" Usagi spoke, and I blinked as I looked straight back down at the coin purse. I looked back at the sign above them, reading carefully – Three gold coins equaled six thousand of whatever the currency was here? And six thousand got two small swords? I did as I was told before Usagi would begin to complain at me, and I was then handed the two wave-shaped daggers that I'd been eyeing off the whole time. _"You should probably get one of the small daggers while you're at it – that's one of the black coins for it." _

"_Okay, thank you." _I replied back to Usagi, and I proceeded to purchase that little dagger while I was there. It didn't take me long to figure out why Usagi told me to get it – it was about two four inches long in the blade, and incredibly sharp. To cut my hair with? Hmmm …

So I was now walking around with two large daggers in their strange scabbards, and a small dagger, causing me to frown fractionally. I should find a belt or something to attach the scabbards to, if I was able to.

"_Feeling safer?" _Usagi's voice chortled, and I frowned a little more.

"_Yeah, I guess. Just gotta learn how to use these … "_

"_Wave blades." _Usagi cut in for me, and I blinked momentarily. Made sense, the blades were in the shape of waves on one side, and were a heavily curved weapon. I somewhat smiled at that. When I learnt how to use them, I would feel a lot safer. _"Why don't you go and cut your hair now?" _Usagi spoke, and I frowned fractionally. My stomach didn't want to leave just yet, but yeah, if I cut my hair now, it would probably be a lot better on my neck in the long run.

"_Sure, sure." _I thought back to her, beginning to make my way over to the trees over behind the stalls. I did begin to wonder where abouts I should cut my hair to, but I didn't pay it too much mind – I thought about chin length would be good. Propping myself against a large tree, I lifted my long hair up in one bundle. Hesitantly, I lifted the dagger up to my hair, around where my chin was, and, with one careful swipe, my long blue hair fell from the dagger in a clean cut.


	65. Dedicated To Violator

**[AUTHORS NOTES] **Hiya all, sorry it took a little longer to get this chapter up, and I'm sorry it's only one this time around instead of the two or three that I had been doing for a while now. I just got this one completed this morning, and had to wait for a little while before getting it online for you all to read. Now, for all you people that have been sitting there patiently for my other two stories to get back on the road, I have a bit of good news – Well, one piece of good, and one piece of not so good news.

The IchigoXOC story, The Price Of Blood, will be taken down for reworking, and will take a long time to be reworked, so I'm taking it down now for the time being. The good part is that the Toshiro Hitsugaya expansion, The Depths Of Sorrow And Solitude, is being worked on now, and will have five chapters uploaded in about a month from today. The unfortunate thing is, as I'm sure a few of you have realised by now, that I have an attention span that's not worth mentioning – new idea's pop into my head faster than you can say 'Boo', and because I love writing so much, I have to get them all down before they escape me (For those of you that know me in person and have seen my bedroom full of files and folders, you can vouch), so I'm always writing something new. Hell, I've got about twelve Hiei story idea's sitting on my computer now, all with individual titles. Let's not get into every idea I've been having about other stories over the past three years …. heh heh.

Anyways, The Toshiro Expansion is being pulled from Hiatus and worked on again, and as soon as The Fear Of Blood is finished in it's entirity, I will upload something of a celebratory piece (And one that will be completed in about a week once it's uploaded, lol.) So happy thoughts!

Anyway, I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint, and for my favorite Reader, Anon, I hope you enjoy this, I hope it meets your expectations.

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jagansi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE: Dedicated To Violator**_

The skies hung a darkening yellow as the sun began to set, and as I began to walk back to the shack along the edge of the sandy beaches, I let out a breath slowly. Tracing the area with my eyes slowly, I observed the careful way the trees swayed slightly, and how the shadows seemed to stretch along the ground farther than I would have thought normal. I had been right about cutting my hair – it did begin to help the strain in my neck, it felt like half a kilo of weight had instantly been stripped from my head, and strangely enough, it made thinking just that little more coherrent. The ends of the strands of hair was tickling at the base of my head where the neck stopped. There was still a little length, those two clusters of hair that were down either side of my face were still long – I had missed them when I began cutting away, and I had decided at the end, to just trim them back to my elbows, and just leave them long – when I was considering it, I felt a little uncomfortable with not having those two bangs, I liked having something frame my face.

For some reason, Usagi had piped up and started telling me where to cut, and how much, and for some reason, even though I was as confused as hell, and a little suspicious, I was thankful – I couldn't see the back of my head, and Usagi was perched up on a rock to my right, so she _could _see. It didn't feel, too bad, I don't think.

My feet touched the wood of the steps to the shack after several moments, and I frowned fractionally. Yep, I felt so much better wandering around on my own, and even though this old man over the other side of the village centre kept on staring at me like I was a ghost, even that wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. Not finding anything to eat without meat in it, was though, but not by much – I'd have to ask someone what was edible out here, and, not to be presumptuous, but I had the feeling I'd feel more comfortable in asking Hiei over Kurama, even though I was ninety percent certain I'd just get told to go away. My stomach grumbled quietly as I sighed, and as I raised my hand to grab the doorhandle, the door suddenly opened with a sudden jerk. I blinked, a little surprised, until I saw that look of shock written across the tall human's face.

"Meia-?" I heard Kuwabara begin, however I just rolled my eyes as I stepped to his right, where there was a gap I could squeeze past.

"Yes, I chopped it off." I spoke bitterly, pushing my way past him as I pulled the traveling cloak a little more around me so I was just veiled in the black material. I could see that Kurama was out, and Yusuke was passed out on the floor, on top of a blanket. I couldn't really see anyone else, Hiei was gone, and I assumed Koenma had gone off with Kurama – that was until I looked into the room I'd been staying in. The form of the spirit world ruler was upright on the edge of the bed, leaning forward with that same blue hardback book I'd seen him clutching for dear life when he stumbled upon Hiei and myself. The book was open in his grip, and it was pretty obvious he was reading it at that moment.

My arrival had clearly caught his attention – I saw him look at me as he closed the book with one hand, and I frowned fractionally as I saw him glance at my hair – though I had to get used to it, I pretty much chopped a meter and a half off my total hair length.

"I'm glad you finally got back." Koenma spoke, rising to his feet after a moment. I guessed he had gone and gotten himself cleaned up a little bit, he had no dirt on him, and he looked in a much better condition. "I'd been wondering if you had gotten lost or something."

"Not possible in this hell hole." I replied, and I saw him smile hesitantly. Undoubtedly, he knew more than he let on. "So then I assume you know where we are?" I saw Koenma's hesitant smile fade slightly. Of course he did – pretty stupid of me to have thought otherwise.

"Well, I'm aware of the relevence it has for you." I glanced at the book as Koenma began to walk out of the room himself. "Put those weapons down for now, I want you to come outside with me." I raised an eyebrow, however I didn't exactly comply as I stood there with my arms crossed. The last time I wandered around with no way to defend myself, I was jumped by a monster that didn't die from a stick through the centre of the chest! He seemed to notice my lack of compliance, but he said nothing as he glanced at me and began to walk out of the shack. I turned and began to follow Koenma out of the shack, and I raised an eyebrow as I wondered, what was he doing? "Hiei and Kurama have gone out for a while, which I'm glad for."

"And why is that?" I asked, glancing at the still shocked Kuwabara as Koenma and myself walked past him without a word to him – what was the point? If Koenma didn't say anything, then it couldn't be helped. I was still hurt by that whole conversation, or argument, or whatever one would call it.

"I have wanted to talk to you, alone, actually." Koenma spoke, and I raised an eyebrow as we stepped out of the little shack, and he began to lead the way along the beach to the left – I vaguely remember hobbling this way last night, before I bumped into Hiei.

"You had the chance before we got here." I spoke, and I saw Koenma glance back at me – perhaps I was supposed to be walking at an even stride with him.

"I had to speak with the others first." Koenma commented, causing me to frown slightly. Sure, he had to speak with them first, probably to find out what had been going on while I was gone, or dead, or whatever else under the sun was going on.

"_Probably seeing if you'd tried to kill them or something." _Usagi's always _helpful_ input came loud and clear, causing me to wish I could slap her sometimes.

"Right." I replied to Koenma's statement without too much deliberation, and as we reached far enough where the shack was no more than just a speck of black against the sunset beach, Koenma seemed to slow to a slight stroll.

"I'm assuming the majority of your memories are intact?" Koenma asked after several moments, and I frowned slightly as I picked up the pace a little bit to be at equal stride with the toddler ruler. Well, what way could one answer this one? I remember everything to do with you people having me incarcerated, and nothing much on the other part of it?

"Somewhat." I took to answering, and I saw him cast me a look depicting an emotion I couldn't quite fathom. I raised an eyebrow, shaking my head slightly to shift the newly cut strands of hair from my eyes. "Is there a point to this?"

"Yes, actually." Koenma answered, and I frowned as he came to a halt, and turned to face me. I slowed to a halt a few paces ahead, turning slightly so I was looking at him to the side. "Your real name – which is it?" I blinked at the abruptness to his question, and as I fixed him with a 'please clarify' look, he seemed to become a little embarrased. "I've been investigating everything I can find into this whole mess. It's not easy, considering that every person I am trying to protect is wanted dead by Spirit World-" I let out a breath after a few moments, looking away from Koenma for a few moments. Well, that explained why it was my fault, everyone was going to die if they were caught.

"So basically, you're so strung up that you could scream, and you want to know why everyone is condemned to death?" I commented, and I saw Koenma's expression turn blank, and he fell silent immediately.

"Putting it simply, yes." Koenma agreed after several moments, and I frowned fractionally as I placed my gaze back upon the Spirit World Ruler, or Ex-Spirit World Ruler, as I was beginning to suspect. "Considering that the necromancer that resurected you has been murdered just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I need to know what's going on so I can prevent another death!" I blinked, my frown becoming more intense as I watched him. That more than hinted at the possibility of her death being my fault too, and I really didn't like it.

"And what did the others say?" I questioned, without any real politeness in my voice.

"_Obviously that they regret resurecting you in the first place." _Usagi piped up, and I had to really force myself to silence and motionless as I felt the reaction of going to tell her to shut up – but I couldn't see where she was, probably still on top of my head.

"That we should have thought more carefully before acting so hastily." Koenma ended up commenting, and I almost glared at that statement – If I didn't know it was a cop out, I would be a little acceptant of that. Bugt no, there was no two way about it – it was a cop out, a convenient way of saying they should have left me there without it being so blatantly obvious.

"Is that all?" I questioned, and I saw Koenma hesitantly incline his head forward slightly.

"However, I still feel differently to the three of them." Koenma commented, and I frowned even more.

"Three?" I spoke, and Koenma almost seemed to roll his eyes at my persistent questions.

"As usual, I got nothing from Hiei." He spoke, and I still watched him. That was no surprise – Hiei never spoke to me, unless he had no choice. I crossed my arms tightly across my chest, feeling the tiniest flickering of pain from that, but I pushed it from my mind immediately. "Back to the matter at hand – which is your real name?" I frowned even more as my irritation began to take root. Obviously this was the questioning I had been waiting for, begrudgingly. Deciding to at least play along for now, I shifted my weight onto my uninjured leg.

"It's Umiko." I commented bitterly, and I saw a look of something that didn't sit well with me flicker across his face – whatever it was, it made that irritation in the pit of my stomach practically double in potentcy. This was like Kurama's high and mighty 'You-are-lying-and-will-answer-me' interrogation when those packages started appearing in my room, exactly like it.

"And I'm assuming you remember why this village has significance to you?" He questioned, and I almost swore at the stupidity of that question – Of course I freaking knew why this town was so god damn familiar! I was born, brainwashed and incarcerated the first time here in this forsaken demon village! I must have looked unimpressed to say the least, as Koenma seemed to let out a breath, and he fixed me with another of those strange looks. "I'll take that as a yes."

"What has any of that got to do with anything?" I spoke, and I saw Koenma lift that blue hardcover book slightly, bringing my attention to it immediately. It stunk of swamp-stink, and was quite simply making me feel nauseous.

"This book has given me information that I really need clarification of to have a proper understanding of the contents -" He seemed to be rambling now, he was talking so fast that I had a little difficulty in keeping up. "-But if thats the case -"

"Then what?" I questioned, my irritation beginning to move up the chain towards agrivation. I was never one for a temper, the only person I ever remember losing it over was Kurama's High and Mighty interrogation, but this was getting very, very close. Koenma seemed to hesitate, his rambling cut off effectively, however, he said the one thing that made things worse.

"Are you the older twin?" He asked, and I really had to grit my teeth to stop myself from saying anything too unplesant. I could feel my temper boiling away, so fast that I almost couldn't keep up. "Or are you the younger -"

"I was chained up in a basement for the first half of my life!" I spat, my hands shaking as I fought hard to remain as civil as I could – which being close to shouting angrily really was all I could manage. "You expect me to have answers to questions that your stupid _book _has answers to when I want to know why you all just won't leave me alone?"

"So you're the younger one." Koenma spoke, and I had to reign myself in before I lost it. "That complicates things then."

"So what? Now you _know _you have to kill me?" I spat, and that same look flickered across his face – was that – regret?

"_And everything else in between." _Usagi's voice came, though there was no sarcasm or chortling, just a simple statement.

"No, Umiko-" I felt my arm twitch at the name he called me. "-it means that we shouldn't have-"

"Revived me in the first place?" I spat, and I saw a look of shock cross is face.

"No- I meant-"

"_He's stalling, don't you see?" _Usagi's voice cooed, much like a chill against the back of my neck. "_Haven't you wondered why they haven't hunted you down yet? You've still got that tracking device beeping away in your arm!"_

"_What?" _My breath caught in my throat as my mind blanked, and I practically forgot that Koenma was even there trying to reassure me of something._ "No way-"_

"_We've been here for three days, with no sign of those beings that could get here in ten minutes if they really wanted!" _Usagi's voice echoed with force, like I had just been slapped. "_You can't tell me that you believed we'd be safe here? Who do you think's pulling that Giant's strings to begin with?"_

The sounds of glass shattering in the far off distance snapped my attention back to what was around me immediately, and I saw that Koenma had turned around, and was looking over at the speck that was the shack. Was that me that did that? From all the way over here?

"I didn't sense anything – there must be something wrong!" Koenma's voice spoke, and I saw his feet begin to take him at a sprint towards the shack. "Umiko, we'd better get back in case they've found us-" He spoke, and once again, using that name instead of my human name. I remained motionless, watching as the Toddler ruler ran off, wondering if it was really worth it to hang around with these people that clearly blamed me for everything wrong with their lives. Maybe, Usagi was right? Koenma was already half way back towards the shack when I noticed one very important thing – that so called precious book of his was lying on the sandy ground where he had been standing, the top end of the spine buried in the sand, as if he had dropped it in his fright. Koenma clearly didn't notice it was missing, as he disappeared into the distance.

"_Don't just stand there – if you want to escape, then you'd better do it now!" _Usagi's voice chimed in, haste to her tone as I stared down at the book. I had everything with me, that pouch of money, the weapons I had bought … there was nothing there at the shack that belonged to me. "_That man is watching us, but he won't come after us until we're well past the outskirts of the forest." _I looked around slowly, but I couldn't see any 'man' that Usagi mentioned. "_He's cocky, thinking we don't know he's there, but we can get away."_

"_Then what do we do?" _I spoke, crouching down carefully, and picking up the cursed book. I carefully wiped the sand from the cover of the book as I looked back at the shack.

"_Turn around, jog towards the hill along the edge of the water." _I hesitantly tucked the cursed book under my right arm, and I turned around to look at what Usagi had mentioned. _"Don't run, otherwise he'll know we're leaving. We're just lucky he can't hear us from this distance." _I remained silent, spotting the strange looking hill and beginning to jog towards it – for some reason, jogging made the pain from my leg noticeable, but it didn't matter at that moment. "_I guess it's a good thing you _didn't _listen to me to begin with – we wouldn't have gotten that blasted book if you did." _My mind was aching as I jogged, so much that I almost couldn't see straight, and although I could just make certain that I was running in the right direction, I could feel the helplessness that I had been feeling before tumbling down on me like a ton of bricks.

"Won't they just be able to find us if we run away?" My voice gasped, and as I took in a ragged breath, I noticed a large black space at the foot of the hill. If I wasn't bouncing around so much and having difficulty in seeing and thinking coherrently, I might have been able to pick what it was.

"_Not where we're going." _Usagi's voice came, and I hoped that she was right – I hoped to the being called fate, that she would let me have this time in solitude – It was all I wanted. _"Run through the cave – I'll tell you where to go-" _Usagi's voice spoke, and as directed, I headed for the large black space called a cave.

"_But you said _not _to run, or whoever it is will come after us!"_

"_He won't catch us in time, you'll see." _Usagi spoke, and reluctantly, I obeyed, feeling the pain in my legs lessen as I picked up speed. _"Close your eyes, and run straight – don't turn." _

"But, I'll run into a wall! That's hardly helpful in running away!_" _I practically wimpered, however I got no response. My feet began to slip beneath me, but I managed to force myself to keep moving.

"_We're going through a mirror!" _Usagi's voice chimed, and it was a moment too late, when I managed to comprehend that statement. I felt the sensation of being submerged in a kind of water thicker than it was supposed to be slam into my body like I had just run into it, and it was in that moment that I felt my consciousness flickering dangerously.

What in the world had I just gone and agreed to doing?


	66. Never Forgive Me Never Forget Me

**[AUTHORS NOTES]** I'm sorry it took me longer than I said for this one to be uploaded – I'm stuck in the middle of working full time at my workplace, and fighting four different stories for writing time – seriously, if I had four pairs of hands and four keyboards at the same time, I'd be able to get everything done in normal order! But anyway! Here's the next chapter of The Fear Of Blood – and I will have more chapters of Down Into My Shadow uploaded soon. For the lovely Anon, I have the proposal of a Touya fiction, but since you review through the anonymous channels, I can never find you to actually send you a message about it, lol. Anyway, please enjoy, and I hope the chapter doesn't disappoint.

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Trends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY SIX: Never Forgive Me … Never Forget Me ...**_

A frigid chill swept through the area, and the darkness lessened slightly in it's devoiring surge. The light flickered slightly in the wake of the darkness, only illuminating the tiniest hints of a rather large and expansive cave. Crystals coated the walls of the cave, in a strange assortment of colours as the density of the air continued to become heavier. The air was tinged with the tone of white, as if the air itself was engulfed in a strange mist. A shadow stood against the wall of the cave, silent and motionless, with its arms appearing to be crossed, and a foot propped up against the wall at it's back. The shadow was just a silhouette of darker air in the misty white air, translucent in it's own way.

The side of my head ached as I came to, a throbbing pain, much like when I came to in that basement. It flickered, like the light from a fluorescent tube light flicking on first thing in the morning. I winced as the pain continued to flicker like that, until I lifted a hand, and placed it to the side of my face gently. My hand was cold, and the cool feeling of it against my face actually began to make the pain lessen in intensity. I let out a breath slowly, blinking a few times before I looked at my surroundings hesitantly. That pain in my head made it difficult to look around successfully, however, I pushed it to the back of my mind as I tried to figure out where I was. I couldn't still be in that cave with Usagi – surely someone'd have come and dragged my sorry arse straight back, or worse yet, have me killed because they found me. I cast my gaze over towards the wall in front of me, slowly letting out a breath as I tried to figure things out.

The silhouette standing against the wall didn't actually register in my mind, I stared at it blankly for several moments as it remained, unwavering. I slowly blinked my eyes, beginning to realise it was really there as I noticed it shift slightly, but I didn't exactly catch what though. The form was familiar one to me, like I should know who it was, but because I couldn't see any features, or even hear anything, I couldn't tell, only the familiarity sat with me. I closed my eyes slowly as I brought my arms closer to my chest as I tried to decide what I was going to do now – when the feeling of something large and wooden within the grip of my right arm came to my notice. Realising I still had that damn book in my grip, I slowly lifted my arm from it, bringing my arm to my chest to try and force that heavy feeling from it. I wondered about that, but, it didn't really matter at that moment. Letting out a breath, I lifted myself upright off the ground, feeling pain flicker in my arms as I steadied myself.

The wave swords did make it a little difficult for me to move, at least while I was sitting on the cave floor like that, but it wasn't all that important. Raising a hand to my face carefully, I let my other reach out for that book next to me. I looked over at the mirror I was certain I had actually run through, to see that it was just a reflection of a shiny crystaline substance growing on the wall - the reflection was a far more colourful, and clear image than what the place was on this side. I couldn't see anyone on that side, at least until I leant over to the left slightly, and saw someone that surprised me. A black-clad fire apparition I had begin to get to know was standing against the wall, exactly where the silhouette was standing on this side of the crystaline mirror. He had his eyes closed, with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked like he was waiting for something, for some reason, and as I watched, I realised who Usagi had been speaking about before.

Speaking of Usagi, I realised I hadn't heard her since I woke up, and I began to wonder why. I lifted my gaze up to stare at the ceiling. Had she decided to keep quiet for once? Or had she actually managed to wander off while I was out cold? Either which way, it didn't matter that much, I guessed as I dragged myself to my feet numbly. Looking around slowly, I picked up the book and tucked it under my right arm, and the darkness of the cave finally began to set in on me. For some reason, even though there was nothing really on this side of the mirror, I was still wary – how could I not? Last time I went through a mirror, I came out half-cooked, and ended up dead on the other side. The fact that I was perfectly fine this time around was beginning to unnerve me.

"_For the most part, this doesn't seem __**too **__bad ..." _I thought quietly to myself, beginning to wander back through the cave, in the direction I knew I had come running from on the other side of the mirror. The book was heavy, a burning weight against my right shoulder, and it wasn't too much for me to pick that Koenma would really, really miss this book as soon as he noticed it was gone – if he noticed. No, of course he would notice it was gone – he clung to it like it was the only hint of light in a dark world. He was probably searching that beach all over trying to find it – and everyone else was probably looking for me. For some reason, I didn't get the impression that Hiei was one to go blabbing to anyone about what was going on – after all, I had only heard a handful of sentences from him in the whole time I had met him. Just recently, he seemed to talk to me more than before. Though he did obviously speak with the others more than me, I still felt a strong sense of truth in the fact that he was the only one that knew I was in this mirror.

This wasn't a big cave at all – I actually blinked in mild surprise as I found the mouth of the cave no more than two minutes later. Yeah, running through the cave with Usagi practically yelling at me to keep running seemed like no more than ten seconds, but I had been sure that the cave was a lot longer than this. Approaching the area outside, I could feel shock beginning to overcome me, and I came to a halt as I looked around at the strange area around me.

The sandy beaches outside were veiled in a white mist of frigid cold, no direct source of light was visible, and it was at most a ten meter vision through the white mist. It was disorientating to look through, and it was difficult for me to see where I was going. Though it did remind me of something in a life I had lived so long ago – one of my vidoegames had a setting like this … but I couldn't remember too much of it – too much had happened since I had sat down and enjoyed one of my video games. I felt almost saddened by that fact, and the only thing I had wanted to do ever since I woke up in that cave with Hiei standing over me, was to go back to my life as a human, and just go back to college. A faint smile touched my face as I thought back, slowly beginning to wonder why it was that I couldn't remember anything much about college? I couldn't even remember what Mokoto looked like … it was all I could do to remember her voice.

Letting out a weary breath, I redirected my thoughts to navigating this strange world. Gripping the cursed book in both my arms, I began to walk forward, looking around to try and find out what was going on with this world. No Usagi, a shadow, and nothing but misty air around me – this was really beginning to become more than I could handle – although I didn't mind the peace, for once. If I wandered around forever, and found nothing dangerous in this world, I would feel at least a little more at ease – but of course, I had the inkling feeling that I probably shouldn't get too used to this place just yet. I could see the tiniest hints of translucent shadows just out of my field of vision – or sense them, more to the point. I couldn't really see them, but I knew they were there, somewhere – after all, there was that shadow where Hiei would have been standing if he were on this side of the mirror, surely there would be other shadows around.

The sand was even ice cold – I could feel it through the soles of the shoes I was wearing. For the most part, I began to wonder why the world was like this – if I really was in a mirror, shouldn't it be exactly the same as the real world, in both atmosphere, and lifeform count? But as I thought of it that way, it didn't seem to make sense, at least, not that much. How could there be two perfectly identical people, one on either side of a mirror? It seemed far too strange, at least while I thought about it so literally.

The hints of translucent shadows moving around ahead of me came to view better now, a few of them were walking around the sandy beaches, as if they were looking for something. I watched them for a few moments, gripping the cursed book tighter in my arms as I recognised their silhouettes. One of them was tall, bulky and with hair that stood up in a kind of roll out the front. Looking from this silhouette, to the one with long hair and neat clothes, to the other with short hair, wearing clothes appearingly the same style as the other, it wasn't too hard for me to pick who these were – but then, where was the other shadow belonging to a resentful Spirit Detective?

Despite these shadows I could see, this strange, lifeless reflection seemed empty. There were no animals, the strange trees looked dead, and while I looked at these shadows wandering around like this, they seemed to resemble ghosts more than shadows of the people on the other side. Why was this? Was my concept of this place so bleak and deathly that all I could think of were ghosts and death? Maybe being on Death's Row for so long was getting to me.

I glanced back at the shadows as I walked past them, wondering about whether they were really there. The tall one that I felt was Kuwabara's shadow, was stumbling away, like he had slipped or something, while the other two walked along, the both of them looking somewhat downtrodden – at least the way they moved looked downtrodden. I blinked as I spotted something confusing – another shadow was walking several meters away, walking in the same direction as me. The shadow was the one that I knew belonged to Hiei, and as I remained silent, I placed my gaze ahead of me again. Must have gotten bored standing there in that cave for however long he had been there.

I hated the way that my feet sunk into the sand and made it difficult for me to walk quickly in it – It must be an artform to run in such horrible sand, how did I manage it before? I couldn't really understand it all that much, but it seemed that the two times I had run across it without the difficulty of fighting a sinking step, like I was fighting with right now. It was strange, but stupid. I began to make my way towards the village, taking better grip of the huge book as I walked. Why did I even bother with the book in the first palce – I had the feeling I was never going to get round to reading it, and it was just weighing me down in the end. I looked down at the book slowly, allowing my feet to do the walking as I looked down at the cover. This book seemed to just make things worse for me, and while I stared down at it, a large bulge around my right wrist came to my almost apathetic notice.

My wrist didn't look like that, even with that tracking device still beneath the skin – it was like it had ground the flesh away so it could settle there before. And now that I thought about it, my wrist _was _starting to hurt. I vaguely remembered Kurama saying that only the person that places it on someone can remove it – That made my day. Only Kurama could remove it. Well, no matter the problem, as soon as I found somewhere safe for me to hide out, I was going to try my hardest to remove it – I just hoped it didn't have a setting to continue tightening if someone tries to remove it – that would be painful, and I didn't want to have to make it sever my own hand just to be rid of it.

I looked up wearily, looking around at the village as I walked. Fainter shadows wandered around the village, forms of beings that I had never seen the like of to begin with. There were tentacled monsters, small, child-like beings, and normal people with horns sticking out of their heads. I looked around slowly, trying to make heads or tails of this place. While I could most definitely see these silhouettes, I could tell that they weren't as pronounced as those other shadows belonging to the people I had been stuck with for more than a few months.

As I looked around this ghostly world I was within, I noticed that reflective surfaces were colourful, and seemed to resemble a world more akin to the one I had escaped, rather than a deathly ghost town with white mist and shadows wandering around. The glass windowpanes of the buildings within the strange village seemed to reflect the same way as that crystal I had come through. Through these bright reflections, I could see corporeal beings in the places where the faint shadows were, and as I looked around, I could see that I had no reflection. I wondered on that, looking at all the other reflections, to see that there were no shadows – no nothing that so much as hinted as to my existence. Turning to look over towards the way I had come from, I blinked as I saw that same shadow, still approaching me at a kind of stroll. Could he see me, and was following where I was going? This didn't make any sense to me, but, as I glanced over at the reflections of the otherworld, I felt the colour drain from my face.

A petit young woman stood within the flickering reflection of a door of glass, her face showing a mild smile that seemed somewhat haunting to me. Blonde hair hung down her shoulders, and even though the Jade eyes held nothing but a sincere smile to them, I couldn't help but see a sinister look to them -whether it be by my overactive mind, or by my actually seeing it there, I couldn't tell, but for some reason, I felt that it was my overactiveness that was doing this to me.

"I've been waiting for you to come here at your own free will." Came a voice through the back of my mind, causing me to wince in pain momentarily – for some reason, that hurt, and I began to wonder why that was.

"Who are you?" I demanded, and for some reason, the young woman smiled a little more.

"Would you like to become reunited with the past, and understand it completely?" She spoke, as if I had never said a single thing. I blinked, my gaze turning into a kind of frown as I waited in silence. "Your Father's waiting for you."

"What?" I blurted out, confusion setting in on me. True, I never knew what happened to him, but surely he was dead now or remarried, or something else!

"He's in here, waiting for you." The woman spoke again, and I watched her cautiously. "Would you like to come and see him?"

"_You should go with her." _Came a voice I had just become acustomed to not hearing anymore, causing me to flinch, and look over at where her voice had come from. The little black rabbit was upon the tree to my right, perched as if she had been there the whole time. I blinked, wondering upon Usagi's statement, before I spoke again.

"You've been there silent the whole time?" I asked, however I got no reply in regards to that. Usagi merely remained silent and motionless, and I hesitantly looked over at the strange woman who was still awaiting my answer with a smile for a moment. "Is this your final demand?" I questioned, casting a frown over towards Usagi, only I blinked as I saw she wasn't there anymore.

"_Stop your spoilt whining, and just go." _Usagi spoke bitterly, and I let out a breath before I looked back at the strange woman again.

"Can I leave when I decide I wanna come back?" I asked cautiously, and that woman smiled even more for some reason.

"Of course. It's nothing but ice and mirrors over here. You can leave whenever you want." She spoke, and I hesitated momentarily. Looking down at the book in my grip, I let out a weary breath as I just dropped it, looking over to the young woman once again. It didn't matter whether I could come back or not, really, as I thought about it – It was a matter of time before I was captured and put to death, what did it matter if I wandered into this mirror and never came back?

"Alright." I spoke slowly, beginning to walk up the few steps to the glass door that held the strange reflection. I let out another breath slowly, placing my right hand upon the glass slowly. For some reason, just like that crystal in the cave, the glass matched the consistency of thickened water beneath my hand, and as I pushed my hand through the glass slowly, I glanced back over my shoulder. I blinked, shock creeping over my face as I saw Hiei's shadow standing at the foot of the steps, with his arms crossed and his head angled upwards, as if he really could see me. I stepped through as the liquid glass engulfed my form, and the last of the village began to fade from my vision.

He did nothing as I felt my form sink through the mirror entirely, and as I wondered why he was standing there, I could feel the tiniest of an incling regret – I felt that I should have said goodbye to him before I left.


	67. IceLight Carnation

**[Authors Notes]** Hello everyone, it's been an aweful long while, hasn't it? I'm so sorry I haven't been updating. I've just had a lot going on, so I haven't been able to do any writing. I know it's no real excuse, so I'm just going to make it plain and simple. For all you lovely people who have been waiting a long time for this, here's the beginning of your long-awaited answers, depending on what you've all been wondering about. I don't know when I'm going to be able to update next, it might be another long while, so I apologise in advance if it takes a long time for the next installment or two. This story will be finished though, I can promise you that.

Anyway, enjoy, and Anon! I'm sorry the update's very late. Auevoir! Jozei~!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN: Ice-Light Carnation**_

The darkness filled the room, as if it were a liquid that spread to cover everything around it. The shadows that were cast by the few objects within a darkness filled room stretched out like a curtain caught by the wind flowing through an open window. While there was no lightsource in the room per-say, there was patches where that fluid darkness was thinner than in other places.

That sensation of thickened water lifted from me as I took one last step, and the sensations of stepping on ice met my senses immediately. Coming to a complete halt, I looked down as my eyesight adapted to the sudden darkness, where I could see that my feet had sunk into the darkness. Frowning slightly, I lifted my right foot, where the darkness fell from it like thickened, dripping water. Okay, that was a strange way for darkness to work. I'd never seen anything of the sort, and it was more than a little unnerving. Giving the darkness no more than a few moments thought, I looked around the room I had wandered into through that reflection. I could see the tiniest hints of a door to the far left, just an outline, for I had to squint to actually be able to see it.

I cast a suspicious look to the watery darkness, before I began to walk over towards the faint outline of the door, placing a hand over the hilt of the wave blade attached to the belt on my right hip. A painful chill was running down the back of my neck, and I was beginning to miss the insulating effect my long hair actually had. The outline was indeed the outer line of a door, and as I felt my free hand come in contact with an icy substance, I increased my grip on the blade. There was no handle, no doorknob or anything else – it was just a piece of ice that worked as a door. Taking to pushing on the surface of black ice, the outline remained the same, no shift in intensity or brightness. I shifted my gaze slightly, looking to the right as I began to wonder what the hell was up with this door? And there was no woman on this side of the mirror.

I let out another breath slowly, closing my eyes as I pushed on the door of ice again. There had to be a trick to it, like it was blocking that liquid darkness from going any further. The slight sensations of rippling ran through the palm of my hand as I tried to push my way through the door of ice again, causing me to open my eyes slowly – and the sight that I saw was enough to make me freeze in place. The liquid darkness had flowed up the door of ice in the few moments that I had shut my eyes, and was beginning to cover my arm past my elbow. It ripplied ferociusly like it was alive, and as I stared at it, the scent of melting iron hit me hard, almost winding me by that alone.

I tried shaking it off, waving my arm around like a lunatic – but that just made that liquid darkness seem to climb faster and faster up the length of my arm. Stumbling backwards as I tried to brush the liquid darkness off, my back hit the wall of ice hard, alerting me to the one problem that I had walked into – through all my trying to get the door open, I had managed to get myself locked in a small room with the liquid beings I had been running away from ever since I had been taken into custody by Spirit World. This is just great! I'm gonna die, or be locked up or whatever these _things _wanted to do to me from the get-go. My bet was being Eaten – it just had to be eaten!

Something cold took hold of my right elbow just as the liquid darkness had crept up to my neck, and as I felt my eyes widen in surprise, I felt my arm suddenly sink into the door of ice I had just spent the last three minutes trying to get through. That grip around my elbow pulled me so forcefully that I fell backwards, and as a suddenly white and bright light hit me square in the face, I felt my head hit something as hard as ice. And who would have guessed it, as my eyesight cleared, I saw that it _was _ice.

"Sorry." Came an out of breath voice, causing me to blink, and look over at where the voice had come from. The same young woman from the mirror was crouched over me, however, something was off. I had expected to see a kind of pale complexion – you know, something somewhat normal – but all I saw was an icy white complexion, and her hair was a snow white – even her eyes seemed to be a shade of white. "I couldn't open a more direct mirror, so I had no choice but to drag you through there. I'm so sorry!"

"Th-that's fine ..." I managed to groan out, dragging myself upright after a few moments. I looked dowm at my body, where the darkness was now receeding. However, it didn't drip from my body like water, but rather seemed to absorb itself into the clothes I was wearing. I supressed a shudder, eyeing my now contaminated clothes with an air of disappointment – I had just got these too!

"It's persistent." The young voice of the strange woman came, and I glanced up at her, before I dragged myself to my feet. "Once it binds itself with clothes, there's no getting it out."

"So I've got a liquid monster hiding in my clothes?" I clarified with bitterness, and I saw the young woman smile slightly for some reason. "Perverted Monster." I grumbled after a few moments, only to hear the young woman laugh slightly.

"Pretty much." She spoke, and it was a few seconds later that she held out a petite hand out to shake hands with me. "My name is Monique, this is the first time we've met properly."

"Met properly?" I repeated cautiously, however, I still shook hands with the young woman. She smiled just that little bit broader, making me feel a little self conscious for some reason. Why was that?

"There's plenty of time for that afterwards. I'd rather make sure it's gone before you forget about it." The young woman called Monique spoke, turning on her heel as she released my hand, and I bit down on my bottom lip as I began to follow her after a few seconds hesitation. "We've got baths, beds, and even food – I hope you're hungry." Once again, since my time in front of the stalls that morning, my stomach growled relentlessly, reminding me of how long it had been since I had eaten anything – and all that complaint about how frail and skinny I was before this mess was probably the best I had looked since the whole problem of people trying to kill me had started up, undoubtedly, I looked even skinnier from blood loss, overstraining my body, and of course being dead for a few weeks was bound to have weight-loss problems to add to the mix. If I had any real idea where I was about, I'd have to say getting close to annorexia – but I hadn't looked at myself in a mirror consciously, anyway. Life or death situations, the usual.

"Uh, Yeah." I managed to speak before a giggle escaped Monique, and I found myself looking around the strange white place for some sign of the dining room. It was strangely warm in here, for a building made out of ice – I began to wonder if this was really ice at all, disregarding the fact that Monique had told me this was a place of ice and mirrors anyway.

"In anycase, I'll show you to the bathroom before dinner."

"B-But-" I began quickly, but a sharp smile was shot my way from over Monique's shoulder.

"Trust me – You'll feel better taking a bath before dinner." She spoke in such a manner, that it was obvious that this was the end of argument. For some reason, I couldn't really comprehend this strict side to the mostly bubbly young woman, but I wasn't going to complain about it – hell, I was getting fed, and it wasn't the whole being abliged to do so because I was a prisoner or anything. Why the hell didn't I come here sooner? "Anyway, we're here." Monique piped up after a few moments, causing me to snap out of my momentary complaining almost immediately. I was lead to a huge door made out of opaque ice, carved with intricate designs along the border of the door itself. "I'll go grab a set of clothes for you; we're the exact same measurements, so I should have something to suit you." I blinked in shock at that, my gaze narrowing as I continued to stare up at the huge ice door.

"How am I meant to open this?" I asked, deciding to ignore her comment about 'measurements' as I noticed that there were no door handles on the huge, heavy looking door. "There's no door handles or anything."

"Oh!" Monique suddenly spoke, and I frowned as I saw her step over to the door herself. "Just walk through it. It's not reflective, so you should go straight through it."

"Right ..." I commented, frowning as I continued to stare at the door. "Is that because it's made of ice?"

"No." Monique piped up, causing me to look at her after a few moments. "This place is a huge building of ice and energy, so really, if you think it's going to stop you from walking onwards, the energy will stop you from walking forward. Anyway, I gotta go!" Once again, I was shocked to momentary silence, that was until I realised what that last part meant as she turned on her heel and began to jog away.

"Wait!" I managed to call out, turning to see that she had already vanished from my sight. I lowered my outstretched hand after a few moments, looking down at the sleeve of black after a few moments thought. I watched it disdainfully as it seemed to shimmer in some kind of anticipation of something – heck, maybe it understood what we were talking about, and knew that it was going to be incinerated or something. At least I hoped that was pretty close to the point. I let out a weary breath, and leant my shoulder against the door, and just as Monique had said, I sunk through as if the door wasn't really there to begin with. Catching myself before I hit the floor, I frowned over at the door. At the very least, I had expected it to be like sinking through a mirror.

Looking around the room I had ended up in, I could feel surprise beginning to sink in on me as I saw the extent of the bathroom before me. There was a large ground level bath in an open room, much like the single rooms in the old bath houses in Japan, however there was just the bath and a small table housing a towel, scrubbing salts and a small bottle of what appeared to be a kind of moisturiser, which I gathered to be a kind of conditioner. I was surprised, I had really expected a shower, and that was it. Everything here was white as well, so it all camoflauged with the icy walls without effort. Letting out a kind of grumbled sigh after a few moments, I looked down at the blackened sleeve as my other hand unclipped the traveling cloak fom around my shoulders.

"You'd better be happy." I grumbled to the liquid monster hiding in the material of the sleeve, tossing the traveling cloak onto the ground in the corner of the room. "You get a peep show before you get incinerated. How lucky are you?" My sarcasm just made it a little more unsettling to be taking a bath with a monster – despite current sizing and everything else. I placed my weapons on the small table gently, still throwing glares at the blackened sleeve as I focused on getting organised without loosing track of whether or not said monster decided to abandon ship and slink somewhere else. There was a light steam rising from the already filled basin of milky water, causing me to blink slowly as I yanked my tunic off straight over my head, and I tossed it quickly to the traveling cloak in the corner of the room.

I knew it was a gamble letting my guard down now, of all times, but I had to be honest with myself. I actually trusted this Monique woman a lot more than the others. Almost as much as I had to admit, I did trust Hiei. But that was because he hadn't done anything. Yet. I scoffed at my train of thought as I carefully pulled the leggings off, and tossed them to the pile of clothes in the corner. I was beginning to think the way Usagi was trying to get me to – I had to find some place permanently safe and become a Hermit – this was going to end up killing me at this rate. Well … Killing me again. Deciding it was safer to keep undergarments on, I carefully dropped myself into the bath. It had been … probably months since I had a bath last, and I could most certainly feel it – I had almost forgotten how nice a bath actually felt.

It was a nice feeling to be able to rest, just a little bit, but I did wonder how long that was going to last, what with just one wall of ice separating this place from the room full of liquid monsters just a few hallways away. I tried to put it asside from my consciousness, at least for now, but that was harder than I could have thought possible, I found as I let myself rest against the edge of the bath wall. A sigh escaped me as I looked down at my surprisingly grimy form, and I couldn't help but wonder how ragged I looked to everyone else – I sure as hell hadn't had a real chance to actually admire myself for a little while.

After what seemed like just a few moments scrubbing away, the sounds of footsteps suddenly echoed in the room from right behind me, causing me to suddenly yelp in fright as I threw myself to the other side of the basin of white water, and I looked up at the suddenly present white woman as she stepped around the room to place a huge bundle of clothes on the table, next to my various belongings of weapons, and money-pouch. A grin was plastered across her face as she glanced over at me, and I couldn't help but feel a little irritated as she began to go through the items that she had brought.

"Don't worry, I've already seen what you've got there. No need to get all panicky." Monique spoke briskly all of a sudden, and I could feel a sudden flush of heat rise up to my face.

"Wh-what?" I almost shrieked, and I could feel that my face was so red, that I could almost see it reflected in the milky white water I was practically submerged in. "What are you insinuating? That you've been watching me in here the whole time?" Monique let out a giggle after a few seconds, and I could feel annoyance begin to overcome me as she continued on with what she was doing. This was actually a serious matter for me! I was barely able to cope with the fact that Kurama, through attending to my injuries, had seen more of me than I was willing to stomach, this lady I'd never met before had just outrightly made a comment like that?

"I was going to explain after you'd eaten, but since you've gotten upset-" Monique spoke, carefully folding up a few articles of clothes, which were all coincidentally white and teal. "First of all, we're both girls, and secondly, I'm hoping you do remember someone dragging you into a mirror before you died, right?" I blinked, feeling the colour fade from my face as I recalled what she did mention. Yeah, two ghostly white arms came out from behind and dragged me through – Monique lifted up her arms after a few moments, and I felt my gaze narrow as I actually noticed that the ghostly white skin across her arms was actually the melted pattern of third degree burns, all the way up to the shoulders.

"You dragged me through?" I couldn't help but ask, and, Monique responded with a broad grin. "Then you know what happened to me?"

"Of course. We were the ones who put you in the Makai in the first place." Monique commented nonchallantly, and I had to bite down on my lip as my reeling mind almost made me blurt out a horrid jumble of words. Monique giggled again, and she looked back at me as she seemed to finish folding up the jumble of clothes she had retrieved for me. "In any case, finish up, and I'll explain everything over dinner." I nodded mechanically, thinking long and hard on the very little information that Monique had already given me. So … this wasn't the first time I'd been here.

Monique stepped out after a few moments, scooping up the clothes in the corner of the room, leaving me in an uncomfortable, tense silence that made me almost sick to the stomach.


	68. Red Paper Moon

_****_**[Authors Notes]** Hey everyone, sorry for the belated updating. I managed to secure access to the internet today without getting too roasted, cause it's my birthday. Unfortunately I'm going away for a couple of days, and have been told I'm not allowed to bring my laptop T_T so I won't get the next update by monday, like I was hoping. Sorry... Anyways! Thanks all of you that have been reading, and to those that have reviewed! It means a lot, so Thank you! Anyways, please read on and I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review if you feel up for it!

For all those interested in Down Into My Shadow, fear not, another update will be put up with the next Fear Of Blood update =)

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT: Red Paper Moon**_

A strange darkness had descended upon the frozen building I had found myself resting within. The walls were now a darkened ice matching the blue oceans at the Makai village I'd escaped from. Feeling mostly revitalised in body, but not in spirit, I had chosen the more modest of the outfits Monique had brought me. As I had noticed from the bath, everything was white, and shades of Teal, matching the ice theme of this strange place. Of course I felt that there should be more colour than the ice colours, but of course, I couldn't really complain – after all, I wasn't paying for the clothes, I gathered.

Letting out a breath slowly, I looked at myself from the reflection of the wall next to the door, blinking slowly as I took in the sight of myself. Strangely enough, I wasn't as skinny as I thought I was. About the same as I'd always been, I was pretty sure. I was a lot paler than before though, and as I looked down at the clothes I had picked, I couldn't help but wonder if the paleness to my skin was actually caused by the white surroundings, and clothes. I went with a short skirt with hiked up leg warmers, and a delicate looking coat that seemed a little too frilly for my tastes. These were all white, asside from a coursette type top the colour of teal, and the shoes, which were a light tan. I certainly felt like Monique was trying to pretty me up or something, but asside from the colour, this would have been my preffered outfit, minus the coat, in any case. There wasn't even any zippers or anything on the coat – it was more like a huge sheet of feathery material tied around my shoulders somehow, at least it looked while it was on. The amount of white was going to make me stick out like a sore thumb in the Makai, I was sure of it. Not so much in Japan, though. That was if I could get there.

Monique was waiting for me outside – I could see her silhouette against the door. I let out a weary breath as I finished drying off my hair, and I began to approach the door – Monique had disappeared with my belongings to get them cleaned, in case any of the liquid monsters had gotten into the material around the hilts, or the coin purse, so I begrudgingly let her take them. It wasn't like I wanted to have the perverted monsters sneak into my new clothes and get me killed. I bit my lip as I stepped through the door of the bathroom, looking a little to the right, to see Monique standing there, with her arms crossed across her chest, and a foot propped up against the wall, like I remember seeing Hiei stand, for some reason.

"You all ready for dinner, now?" Monique asked as she looked at me, and I nodded hesitantly, glancing down at the delicate clothes with an air of … 'meh' would be the best way to word it.

"So what's on the menu?" I asked after a few seconds, watching as Monique stepped away from the wall, and began to walk onwards down the corridor of ice.

"Well, a lot of fruit and vegetables for a start." Monique spoke, glancing back at me as I began to follow her hesitantly. These clothes were lighter than the other set that were now incinerated, and I hoped that meant the monster was dead now – but there was a lot more where that came from, I knew that well. The corridor lead through to a large foyer with two other doors leading to other parts of the building. There were no decorative features or anything else to give any form of personality. Monique lead the way to the corridor off to the right, and as I began to follow, I looked up at the ceiling. It was bright out, the sunlight was filtering in through the transparrent ceiling, creating the illusion of diffused light. Though I did wonder why Monique said that it was going to be dinner, if it was the middle of the day.

"How big is this place, anyway?" I asked after several moments, looking around slowly as I tried to figure out if this was a different corridor, or we were going around in circles.

"Well, this is kind of a recreation of the mansion that you grew up in." Monique proceeded to explain, and as I looked around again, I could feel that Monique had glanced back at me. "Your father even grew up in that house, so when he was incarcerated, this took the basic form of the old house, give or take a few extended corridors." I blinked slowly, pondering this fact as I continued to follow the white-hued woman at equal pace. True, I didn't actually manage to wander through that much of the mansion back in the Makai, but I hadn't found any bathroom, or any storage room with a liquid darkness of Meia-Eating-Monsters.

"So … There's a … huge basement in here …?" I asked after several moments. There was no real initial answer – I looked back at Monique as she seemed to completely ignore my question. Not that I didn't expect it, or anything. I slowly looked around again as we stepped through an open doorway at the end of the corridor, and as Monique began to head to a large table to the left, I realised that this must be some kind of dining room – the table was huge! It was like one of those huge tables you'd expect to see in a palace or something! Around fifteen meters long by about two meters wide, although it wasn't stocked to the brim with assortments of food. At one end was a basket of fruit, and a couple of bowls of what I could immediately tell was cooked vegetables. I couldn't smell any meat in it, for which I was greatful.

"Well, take a seat and eat up, and I'll answer whatever questions you end up throwing at me." Monique's snowy form spoke, and I glanced at her momentarily, before I hesitantly obeyed. What was I going to do? This was the first time I'd seen food since they brought me back – the painful squirming of a deprived stomach highlighted this fact for me rather painfully. I sat down on the only chair that I could find, which happened to be at the head of the table. I blinked as Monique sat herself on the actual table, leaning back on her hands, with her legs crossed. I wondered if she was going to eat as well – but after a second glance at her, I came to the conclusion that she'd eat when she felt like it.

"So …" I began after a few moments, looking down at the arrangement of fruit in front of me as I began to pick which one I was going to devour first. "This isn't the first time I've been here, then?"

"Nope." Monique commented almost immediately, causing me to blink as her petit hand took hold of a large apricot sitting in amongst the other fruit in the huge fruitbowl. "Though you haven't been out here before, you were back in that first room before."

"The room before?" I repeated curiously, as I reached over to the brightly coloured dragonfruit from the fruitbowl.

"The one filled with the black monsters; You know, the ones you've been escaping all this time?" I blinked slowly, thinking back on the darkened room. So … I'd been there before then?

"Yeah, I guess." I spoke, carefully peeling the dragonfruit I had in my grip as I glanced up at Monique, to see that she had already practically finished her Apricot. "So when you dragged me through the mirror, that's when I died?" I paused momentarily, thinking on it for a little longer. "Is that why I don't remember anything else?"

"No." Monique spoke immediately, catching me a little by surprise again. The crunching sounds of the apricot being finished came to my surprised notice after a few seconds. "How should I explain? Because your body was still essentially 'human', just dragging you through the mirror like I did was kinda like throwing you in a pool of rapid-boiling water. So I had to keep you unconscious for a few weeks, until the bleeding slowed down." I looked up at Monique to cast her a strange look, however, as I noticed, she wasn't looking at me, and she had picked up another piece of fruit to munch on. "It was when I found that the liquid darkness had been pulled in with you, that I had to suspend your body's life functions, in order to get it off of you. That's when you had 'technically' died." I found this information a little difficult to take in, and it didn't help that she was casually eating a small orange while she was telling me all this. I looked down at the peeled dragonfruit in my hands, hesitantly taking a bite out of it as I tried to think on that.

"So why was I put out in the Makai all of a sudden?" I asked, slowly coming to the conclusion, no, the knowledge that the reason I was dragged here was to stop myself from becoming impaled, but that didn't really explain all that much to me. "Kind of a strange way to have me put there."

"Well, it's quite simple." Monique spoke once again, as I took another bite out of my dragonfruit. "From the packages to the writing, I could actually hear what was going on out there – It was easy enough after that to hear when they were going to bring the ice maiden back home, and to place you in the way accordingly. Nothing a little foresight couldn't help." I thought on that slowly, looking down at my food as I began to wonder – how could she hear things through a pane of glass?

"Wait ..." I spoke, frowning down at the plate as the clunking of cogs and gears echoed in my head, metaphorically speaking. "_You _were the one sending all those threats?" I looked up at her Monique as I saw her suddenly flinch, and I saw a almost stunned look cross her face as she looked at me for the first time through this question session.

"Threats?" She repeated, however, as I nodded sternly, thinking on the writing on the mirror, her expression softened, and she let out a sheepish giggle. "I really didn't mean for them to seem like threats – You were having trouble coping with what was going on, so, I was just trying to hint that you'd be fine, without sitting in front of a mirror over a cup of tea to discuss the situation." She looked back down at her mostly eaten orange for a few moments. "That's why I sent through your birthrite and that photograph – although Spirit world's gone and incinerated it, so there's no getting it back now."

"Spirit World?" I spoke, and I blinked as confusion began to set in on me. "How can you know that Spirit world's incinerated it?"

"Well, I'm sure you realise that on the side of the mirror you were on, you could travel practically anywhere you chose just like on the other side. The same applies for when they open portals, and everything else; The technique works on both sides, but the lifeforms reside on only one." The crunching of another fruit echoed, and I realised that even though Monique was doing all the talking, she had already eaten a heck of a lot of fruit; Where as I had only taken a couple of bites out of mine. "Walking through portals and doors makes it very easy to sneak into dangerous facilities without actually being found out. It is surprising that no one in your family had ever gone into thievery with an ability like this."

"I guess ..." I spoke after a few moments, glancing up at Monique once again. "So, you know what my family is, then, right? Like, if I was some kind of haenous monster or something?"

"Well, you're not a monster, yourself, and neither is your father." Monique spoke, looking down at me after a few moments. I began to feel self conscious beneath her strangely cheeky gaze. "You come from a family of Veiku, and I can honestly tell you, the way that the rest of your family became, is not uncommon with what they are."

"Veiku?" I asked, thinking on that little piece of information once again – I had heard the term before, but for some reason, the whereabouts or who I heard it from escaped me.

"Yes. Demons of the Mirrors." Monique spoke, and her smile disappeared after a few moments. "Have you ever heard of the stories of children wandering into abandoned caves or forests, and being torn to pieces through the night?" I shook my head at this question. "Well, to put it bluntly, Veiku are children devourers, more commonly percieved as the susperstition of 'invisible friends'. Old beliefs of 'never sleeping in front of a mirror' comes from the beilief of Veiku." I almost choked on the bite of Dragonfruit I took at that moment, looking up at Monique as she turned slightly in her place upon the table top. "However, that is not the reason you've been targeted like this."

"Then what's the real reason then?" I asked, feeling a churning in my stomach as I thought on the 'children torn to pieces and eaten' description that I had just been given. In my point of view, that would be plenty enough reason to have me 'incarcerated', but not killed off like what was going to happen – or what is, as I corrected myself. Monique smiled wearily after a few moments, stretching slightly as I watched her.

"That, I'm afraid, your father will have to explain for you. It's better coming from the person that caused all of this to happen, isn't it?" I blinked slowly, looking down at my hands as I thought on that slowly. So, the reason for the whole of Spirit world coming to kill me was caused by Victor, was it? I couldn't help but look down at my right wrist after a few moments, where I could see the faintest bulge of where the tracking device had been placed all that time ago.

"Can … you help me remove this thing in my arm?" I asked, looking up at Monique again, to see that she was looking down at my arm. She shifted to look me in the eye, then, after a few seconds, a faint smile crept across her face.

"Sure. Don't want those two jinx's tracking you down as soon as you walk out of the mirrors." She spoke, pushing herself off the table after a few seconds. "Now you actually eat something, while I go and get something to cut it out." Without giving me a second to reply, she was already at the door, and gone a second later. The room was silent after, leaving me to slowly place my gaze back upon my wrist, where I thought I could see the tiniest of red flickering through my paler than normal skin.


	69. Munashiki Nagare

_ **CHAPTER SIXTY NINE: Munashiki Nagare**_

_Water rippled beneath the force of the howling winds, and the sunlight began to filter through the darkness that was beginning to lift. Red stained the strange grounds of chains and sandy beaches as the cracks in the sky began to become more noticeable against the eternal sunset colours._

_The oceans had risen – the now blood-red water reached the roots of the strangely crystaline trees, and instead of a clear mirror-like surface, the trees began to turn a cloudy substance with the tiniest tint of red beginning to rise from the roots. The chains that ran along the ground had lifted slightly, and were no longer slithering along slowly like sleepy snakes. The chains that weren't burried under sand and crystaline tree alike were pulled tight, stretching across the strange forest like spiderwebs. Red blood trailed down the chains forebodingly, and as the little lake in the middle of the forest came to view, the tiniest hints of a petit form lying in the shallows of the lake could be seen. The chains embedded within her body hung heavily, almost seeming to be pinning the young woman to the ground. The howling of the wind slowly faded to nothingness, bringing with it the everlasting silence that was corrosive to the soul. _

For the most part, I was silent, watching as the blood quickly flowed down my arm and to the snowy white towel that Monique had placed to the floor beneath my arm. Pain shot through my arm like someone was driving nails directly into my nerves, and I had a hard enough time remaining silent without biting a hole through my bottom lip.

"Almost got it." Monique spoke queitly, her attention on the silver band that was embedded within my arm. She had a pair of pliers in one hand, and a pair of tweezers in the other. The contrast between large and clunky torture weapon, and small, trying not to hurt medical tool was almost horrifically noticeable, and I had a hard enough time keeping myself from swearing each and every time she gripped at the tenacious tracking band. I kinda understood why Spirit world wanted to have me tracked, but why the hell did they have to use such a barbaric tool to complete the job?

"This's gonna hurt, huh?" I asked after a moment, glancing up at Monique's concentration-filled face. She didn't exactly give me any real response, I noted as she gently pulled the band a little more away from the flesh of my arm to allow the pliers to reach. This was already painful, and I knew for a fact that the next part was going to be even more painful.

"Brace yourself." Monique spoke as she seemed to take a propper hold of the band with the pliers, and I took a deep breath as she shifted her grip to allow more ability to close the pliers. A loud clunk echoed as the pliers snapped through the thick metal band of the tracking device, and I couldn't stop the hiss of pain from escaping me. The band fell from my wrist with a dull thud against the towel on the floor, and I blinked as I looked at the amount of blood that had soaked into the towel. It was amazing that my veins hadn't been severed, or anything.

"That freaking hurt." I spoke after a few moments, looking at the large indentation around my wrist – that was going to be one really noticeable scar, and if I lived long enough for someone to ask me about it, I think I'll stick to 'rope burns', unless they were involved in Spirit World.

"At least it's all gone." Monique commented, reaching over to the side of the table, where a lot of medical cotton, wound dressing, and bandages was located. There wasn't enough skin left to so much as sew back together, the edges of the old scar was overstretched – the skin didn't have enough elasticity to make the extra couple of milimeters. "Your blood smells different to your fathers. Not so sugary." I blinked at that, looking up at Monique as she went to dress the injury to my wrist for me.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked after a few moments, seeing Monique glance up at me after a few moments.

"Just that – it's different, nothing much else." Monique commented, and I frowned fractionally as she began to wrap really thick bandages around my arm – it didn't take too long before she began to wrap the bandages around my hand and half way up to the elbow. "Your mothers blood was apparently really bitter smelling – don't really know why."

"Must have matched her personality in the end." I spoke after several moments. I didn't really doubt the possibilty that she could still be alive – I didn't really want to think about it though. From the bits and pieces that I could remember of her, she really wasn't a nice woman.

"That's quite possible, but I'd rather doubt it. Some peoples blood just smell different because of what they eat – I'd say yours smells like honey cause you don't eat meat."

"I guess." I spoke, subconsciously wondering how much she actually knew about me. After what seemed like no more than a few moments, Monique had finished with the roll of bandages, and she actually began to carefully pull a large tube of material made from the same stuff as the bandages – clearly to go over the bandages like a cover, to stop the material below from getting caught on anything.

"Alright, that's that." Monique spoke, scooping up the blood-soaked towel from the floor and placing it in the large bowl she'd brought along with the medical items. "I guess we've spent enough time dilly-dallying; Your father probably wants to see you now."

"I guess." I commented, once again not that helpful as I rose to my feet, beginning to follow Monique out of the large dinner-hall. Silence had descended upon me once again as I looked around slowly, and as looked back to Monique's back hesitantly, I blinked as I could have sworn I could see through the back of her head – Was that my imagination? This wouldn't be the first time I'd seen something that wasn't really there. "Umm, Monique?" I spoke hesitantly, for some reason wondering if that was actually her name – I'd only heard her say it once.

"Yeah?" Monique's voice came, so bright and cheerful in comparison to the mind-set that had engulfed my train of thought, that I was legitimately a little startled. I couldn't seem to find the words I wanted to use offhand, I hesitated momentarily as I tried to sort through the questions that were still bouncing around in my head.

"What exactly is this world? " I took to asking, feeling as though I might have already asked something practically the same – But I couldn't really remember if that was true or not.

"This world is a fragment created in the middle of two layers; I'm not sure how your father ended up locking himself up in here, though." Monique spoke after a few moments, and I continued to stare at the back of Moniques head as I listened in. "I suppose the best way to think of it is the two sides of the mirror are the river banks on either side of a river, and this world is like the small islands that only appear when the river is low during summer – This isn't an indefinate world, and in fact, it's only here until Victor disappears from here. It's through the overflowing power from your father that this world actually exists."

"I-I see." I spoke, somewhat able to understand with the analogy that Monique had just given me – and a few moments later, I found myself staring at a wall of ice, and Monique on the other side. I hesitated, looking at the wall of ice awkwardly as I tried to figure out if it was going to work like the bathroom door. Monique's form was disappearing though – she was still walking, and as I realised I was being left behind, I begrudgingly threw myself through the wall of ice – and like magic, it didn't even feel like I'd walked through anything at all. I managed to stop myself from slipping, and as I looked up to see where it was that Monique had disappeared to, I blinked as I saw that she hadn't actually gone anywhere – she was standing just a few paces away, facing towards my left, and she was looking upwards at something. She looked to me after a moment, and as I saw her motion for me to step over towards where she was, she looked back at what she'd been looking at.

"Victor – I've brought your daughter in to see you!" Monique called out all of a sudden, and I couldn't stop myself as a squeak escaped me – I didn't think we were there yet!

"_Thank you, Monique." _Came a voice so suddenly that I was startled – the fact that the voice had actually echoed through my head, instead of my ears like Monique's did. I hesitantly looked up at where Monique was looking, to see the most startling sight I'd seen in a long time. The form of a man was suspended within a wall of ice, chains wrapped around his form, and as the faintest of light shifted within the room, I could actually see his face; The man from the festival – Papa, as I remembered calling him. "_Umiko, I'm glad you've come." _Came the voice again, the same voice; I could feel the knotting in my chest beginning to increase as I bit down on my bottom lip – Yes, I did remember him.

"Hello, father." I heard myself speak, but I hadn't wanted to say anything. I guess, this would have been what Monique said as 'sitting in front of a mirror and talking' was like.

"_Unfortunately, there's not enough time for us to catch up; I trust we can leave the pleasentries for later?" _I inclined my head forward into a nod after a moment – Well, I didn't really know what to say, after all, they asked me to come here, I didn't volunteer or anything.

"What did you call me here for?" I asked after a few moments, and as I glanced over at where Monique was standing, I felt confusion overcome me as I noticed that she was gone.

"_To provide you a moment's rest – And to explain the reasons why you're being pursued." _Victor spoke, however he remained motionless within the ice.

"Then you can tell me why Spirit World's hunting me down like some culling animal, and why Monique says you caused it." I commented – it was kind of a question, but it didn't come out like that – I wasn't meaning to be rude or anything, but I just couldn't say it any other way, for some reason.

"_I see – So you've no idea."_ Victor spoke after a few moments.

"Of course I don't!" I spoke, my voice more than a little bitter at the moment. "I was living a normal 'human' life in the Human World, then I get dragged off and find myself on Death's Row! How the hell do I figure out what's going on from that?"

"_Well, Monique is right – I am the cause of all your problems, and the cause of the problems you don't know about." _

"Well you can start by explaining to me why Spirit World is out to get me!" I deserved to be slapped at that, but quite honestly I really needed some damn answers right about now. It wasn't even looking like I was _ever _going to get back to living a normal life back in college. "What reason does my existence give Spirit World to want me dead this badly?"

"_The Higher beings of Spirit World don't want you dead." _Victor's voice echoed through my head loudly, and I bit my bottom lip to stop my petulant retort from escaping me. _"Indeed it may seem like that – I'm afraid they wish for your capture; Whether or not your soul is intact is to be debated."_

"My soul?" I asked after a moment, raising an eyebrow at this little piece of information – I'd slap myself for being so rude later. Instead of a coherrent answer upfront, I received instead, the sounds of a weary sigh escaping Victor's frozen form.

"_There are many different ways to look at it."_ Victor finally spoke after several moments, and I slowly began to find it eerie that a motionless body was actually speaking to me like this. _"I must confess, as a parent, I've done terrible things – your life within the likes of a prison are the worst. However I don't feel all that upset with the way things have turned out for me. To you as a child, I allowed Maria to use you as a catalyst – the idea for using you as a tool originated from this, not an idea original to the fools in relation to your predicament." _

"Can you at least talk to me coherrently instead of swinging backwards and forward between ten different things?" I asked after a moment, confusion setting in on my mind as I tried to comprehend what exactly Victor was telling me.

"_My apologies." _Victor spoke, and after a moment, I thought I heard the tiniest hints of a sigh – Yep, I was being rather rude. "_Your mother, even before you were born, was obsessed with the control of time, and prediction of events yet to pass; While she was pregnant with your sister, and yourself, she would experience glimpses of the future in hot flashes of light when she came into contact with people, and particular items – mundane futures, like the moving of a painting. However, she soon found out, after she gave birth to the two of you, that these were not of her own – but yours." _

"I take it she didn't like that." I commented, however I received no real response.

"_She held you for the first time after your birth, and experienced the shock of her own death through you – you were scarcely older than ten minutes, and you had shown such an important and devistating glimpse; Maria couldn't cope with knowing how she was going to die, nor could she cope with the fact that her new-found tallent was never hers to begin with. Our people have always been the kind to find serenity in the suffering of others, and Maria fully embraced this dark trait."_

"I take it that's why I was chained in the basement." I commented.

"_No, that's not the case." _Victor spoke, hesitance echoing in his voice as I remained politely silent. _"Premonitions are rare in Veiku – We are born from the world of Mirrors, so we are closely intertwined with time to begin with, negating all possibility of clairvoyant abilities to develop – this is why your mother was so obsessed when she was having those glimpses. Because she couldn't find a way to change her future, she used you, instead, to try and change it. It wasn't anything vindictive or cruel to begin with, but the act of a desperate woman, scared of the knowledge that her life was nearly over." _

"She tore the souls out of the rest of us, and the souls of many demons, and fused them all within your body to force your abilities to become more potent." Monique's voice suddenly spoke from behind, catching me by surprise – I looked back at her, to see that she was looking down at me, a strange smile across her face. "Time is closely linked to the ever-flowing water that exists between the two sides, ever flowing and ever changing like the tides of the oceans in the human world – As all self-aware Veiku have been taught since the beginning of our existences."

"S-so … There's more than one person inside me?" I managed to ask, a knotting growing painfully tight in my chest, and my stomach began to lurch – I was beginning to feel sick.

"_Yes, ninety nine souls your mother wished to pour into your body, but she only managed seventy eight before your body couldn't contain it anymore; I had no choice but to bind your soul within a world inside your own inner world and sever your memories so your soul wouldn't decay-" _My mind was reeling as the lurching of my stomach became far worse, and as I could feel myself begin to actually comprehend what they were telling me, I could feel a weight pulling down at my heart. "_But even then it proved little more than to stretch your body's capacity to fit another soul. And it proved to be my undoing, for your mother incarcerated me inside this fragmented world before she died."_

"But – why would she do that?" I demanded, my voice catching in my throat as I tried to force myself to actually cope a bit better with the information I was being given – this was what I wanted, wasn't it? I was finally being told what I needed to know? Then why did it feel like I was beginning to break inside?

"To change time." Monique spoke, and this time she seemed to step into my peripheral vision. "It's not too far-fetched to believe that such an ability can exist – many of the demons Maria fused within you were all prominent with events of time; Some even able to alter time when outside influences were at their weakest. To turn you into a catalyst for time alteration – Is that so hard to believe when the person doing this was obsessed with changing her own future?"

"I-is that even possible?"

"_Yes, because Maria succeeded." _Victor's voice spoke, causing me to look up at him hesitantly, and all I could hear was the beating of my own unsteady heart. _"However, she failed to actually stop her own death, she only changed the cause – The village was raided by a group of Demon Bandits not too long after I was locked in here – To stop anyone else from posessing a time catalyst, your mother sought to be rid of the bandits, but it proved to be her undoing." _

"She was killed?" I spoke, more to myself to try and force it to sink into my reeling, unsteady mind as I tried to calm myself down – I couldn't breathe properly, either.

"Yes, she was killed in the attack – however the bandits, through their twisted sense of humor strung her up in one of the rooms, hanging from the rafters by a nine-looped noose. We don't know who found you, but they broke you out of that house, and brought you to the human world – we only know, because we found you in a hospital, being called 'Meia' by the doctors that treated your injuries." My head began to ache as my breathing restricted a little more, and my mind began to swirl slightly – it was disorientating, but I had to remain conscious and actually listen.

"Am I the only one who survived?" I managed to ask, looking from Monique, to Victor, then back to Monique again. "Please tell me- Is everyone – are you all-"

"_Only your sister lives." _Victor spoke after what seemed like forever, and I blinked against the stinging that began to appear in the corners of my eyes. "_Everyone else, including myself, is dead. Netami and yourself – You are the only two Veiku left alive." _

"Netami –?" I spoke quickly, my breathing shaky as I tried to remember where I'd heard that word – that name! "Sh-she's the one that the liquid monsters keep on muttering about!"

"You're right." Monique spoke quietly, dragging my shaky attention from Victor immediately. "The black beings you refer to as monsters – they are the remains of demons who have had their souls torn from their bodies – your demons, actually. They were melded with melted iron to give them their forms, however they follow the instinct of reuniting with their souls. They're not cruel, or malicious creatures. They have no souls, and only follow the tiniest remains of their instincts." My head began to hurt as pain began to rise in the right side of my chest, making it so hard to breathe as Moniques words sunk into me, making everything a little hazy. "Only the people who Netami have brought into pursuing you, and Netami herself, are at fault."

"So – that little girl - She want's me dead?"

"No, Meia." Monique's voice spoke, the tone calming, however it just made the pain in my side flare up even worse. "Netami has just grown up into what our people used to be like – she knows she can use you to get whatever she wants, and in this, she's pulling the strings of an old man who has gotten too used to his own power. To capture you, and strip the bulk of your soul is all she'd need to do, then she can manipulate things with the help of that old man." That pain in my side was even worse, as was the pain in my head, I remembered what this pain was- However I pressed my hands to the source of the pain in my side and tried my best to ignore it. Silence echoed for several moments, and as I looked back at Monique hesitantly, I saw her smiling slightly. "Just take a deep breath – You need to calm down, before your mind starts breaking bones."

"What?"

"You asked me why you spontaniously burst into injuries, for no apparent reason." Monique spoke, causing me to almost gape at her – _Almost! _The pain in my side was like ribs were going to break, however it was just pain. "All those souls inside your body make it hard for you to cope with anywhere near as much as other people – it feels like your mind is about to explode, right? Your body takes some of the strain to lessen the pressure on your mind – translating mental trauma into physical injuries that will heal over time. Like your arm, and the hole in your chest, remember?" I managed to nod, however the pain in my body continued to increase, like she said. "I know you can't help it, but you need to breathe – that will help you get a better grip of yourself."

"_Monique-" _I heard Victor speak, however, I was too busy trying to force myself to calm down, like Monique had said.

"Yes, Victor?" Monique spoke, and I managed to look back up at the old man, though I couldn't help but wince in pain. I could hear the faint sounds of rumbling – sounded like thunder, moreso than anything else. Why was that.

"_They've broken through – You have to send her back." _Alarm engulfed my mind as Monique's form suddenly stiffened. They've broken through? What's going on? _"Now – We've spent too much time-"_

"Wait—What?" I managed to speak, however nothing but a squeak escaped me as I felt Monique suddenly pull at my right arm, forcing me to stumble slightly. "What's going on! Tell me!" A sudden tremmor shot through the floor beneath my feet, and as I stumbled slightly, I felt Monique continue to try and pull me with her.

"Netami's hounds have broken through – We've got to go!" Monique barked, urgency in her usually calm voice; I felt all of my remaining composure suddenly vanish as a deafening crunch echoed in the very room we were in – ice from the roof began to break off and fall to the ground, and as I realised that the whole ice-world was beginning to break apart, liquid black began to ooze from the cracks that began to spread through the suddenly larger icy hall – From _everywhere _in the room; Even from the ceiling itself, I saw as I was dragged through the wall of ice that blocked off another corridor.

"B-But Victor – We can't leave him!" I heard myself shout, however as I felt Monique pull me onwards even faster, I stumbled slightly; The scent of melting iron was sickeningly strong, and as I glanced back over my shoulder, I saw that the black ooze was actually flowing towards where Victor was chained up. "Monique! We can't leave him behind!"

"Didn't you hear us!" Monique shouted, panic echoing through every tone in her voice – I fought to keep up with her as she dragged me through wall of ice and corridor. "Victor's already dead! That's just a part of his soul that fought to stay behind for you!" That deafening crashing continued to echo, as did the tremmors – How the hell did the liquid monsters suddenly break through like that?

"B-But-"

"Enough—I have to get you out of here!" Monique cut in over me, and as I fought to actually regain my breath, that pain in the side of my chest began to get worse and worse. "Here! Through this one!" Monique practically shouted. her icy form looking back at me as I glanced back behind _me_. The ground was crumbling behind us, and the black ooze that had engulfed Victor was hot on our trail – I could see it no less than fifty meters back. I managed to look back at Monique as she slid to a halt, and as she suddenly handed me a large bag of assorted metal items, I saw her suddenly hit her clenched fist against the part of the icy wall that was smooth enough to hold a perfect reflection. The reflection flickered to a dark, empty room, and as I realised what she was doing, I felt her suddenly push me towards the reflection. "Hurry up! You've gotta get out of here!" She pushed against the small of my back to usher me onwards, but I fought against it as I felt my fingertips come in contact with the black glass.

"But –- what about you?" I demanded, pushing against the glass as I fought to look back at Monique.

"I can't go with you!" Monique spoke, and I was pushed towards the glass a little more as I managed to turn around against Monique's pushing.

"You'll get killed!" I argued, glancing at the approaching wall of black frantically, and I felt my legs sink through the glass of the mirror. "You've got to come with me! Please Monique!"

"It's alright." Monique spoke, smiling down at me as she placed her hands upon my shoulders, effectively holding me in place. I froze, my racing heart was beating so fast it hurt."You're never alone, I know. I was created for the soul purpose of helping you."

"But I don't want you to die! Monique!" My somewhat coherrent voice crackled under the strain, and as Monique leant forward, I felt my body freeze in place as she pressed her lips against my forehead gently.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more of a big sister for you, to make up for the woman I'm modelled after." She spoke against my forehead gently, and as I fought to try and say something, I felt her hands increase grip of my shoulders. "You won't be alone for very long, I promise."

"What – Moni-" I tried to speak, but Monique suddenly threw me backwards through the mirror she'd been trying to push me through all along. Pitch black met my vision as I felt my body hit the hard concrete of some abandoned building, and as I managed to drag myself upright, my gaze snapped up towards the mirror I had been thrown through. Monique was still standing there, smiling at me was the wave of black swept towards her. Throwing whatever Monique had shoved into my arms asside, I dragged myself back to the mirror. "Monique – Don't do this! Please!" I knocked against the mirror as tears began to run down the sides of my face, and as the black surrounded her form and dragged her from sight, the glass smashed beneath my hands.


	70. Your Rain

**[Authors Notes]** Hey everyone, I have another update for you all! Now as you all have probably noticed from how the story is panning out, there aren't many chapters left in the story (We've reached a maximum of 15 more chapters, but leaning closer to 10) I didn't mean for this story to end up so long, or anything, but it just ended up becoming this long, so yeah =)

For all of you that are scratching your heads, wondering if I'm going to be writing anything else other than the rest of this story and my Death The Kid Story, fear not, for I have a poll going up on my profile about another story to take the rolling place of The Fear Of Blood. There are probably about fifty different running fan fiction stories sitting on my computer being updated every week (Yes, this is why I have so much trouble updating, I'm always writing stories in my free time, I spend one night working entirely on one story, then I review a half-written chapter on another story, write another three chapters on a story not yet posted online, and … yeah, lol. How this poll will work though, is the summaries are the poll answers, and you just pick the summary that you most like to read =) The poll will be running until the last chapter of The Fear Of Blood, so you'll have plenty of time to pick. Anyways, read on, and don't lemme stop you! Oh, and please review if you feel up for it =)

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY: Your Rain**_

_The skies were a black touched with the hues of blood red. A crimson ocean expanded for as far as the eye could see, and the red hued water swept even higher over the strange island of chains and crystal trees. Everything had the hue of a blood red to it – the crystaline trees engulfed completely in the corrosive colour, and blood itself trailed down the tightened chains that stretched up into the skies. The lighthouse upon the tallest part of the island was in disarray – mostly destroyed, and no light stretched out over the red oceans, matching the cracked and shattered form of the sky. Red water continued to pour from the broken sky itself, filling the strange world with more and more bloody water, where the scent itself was nothing more than the metalic scent of blood itself. _

_The lake in the middle of the island was gone – the crystaline water vanished, and replaced with a pit of blood-stained sand. From the middle of the clearing, where a petit form remained lying on her side on the sandy ground without motion, many silhouettes hung in the reflections of the red crystaline trees, only visible from where the petit young woman remained, as if they were her own personal demons. Each was different in their own appearance, however they were hanging in the same manner – Hands tied together, and their bodies hanging upright by their necks. _

_Chains slowly began to creep their way up the arms and legs of the motionless young woman, her empty gaze upon the nothingness that had overcome her. Another crack shot through the sky of the strange word, and more bloody water began to pour into the world, over her little clearing. That made six places the bloody water was entering through – and there was nothing that the young woman could do but lie there and wait for the waters to rise, and engulf her in it's entirity. _

Darkness engulfed the mind and shadowed the world – at least it seemed that way at the moment. The room I had ended up being thown into was as cold as stone, rather because it was made of stone. There was no carpet, no furniture; Just the scent of charcoal, and the ever corrosive cold that was the stone walls and floor. The glass from the shattered mirror remained ever motionless upon the stone floor, it's reflection motionless, as if there was never any alternative reflection there to begin with.

How long had I been in here? Though I had no real depiction of the time most people thought of, it had been long enough where I'd managed to calm down, through cracked ribs and the strain of the past events. The turbulent chain of emotions I had been experiencing had dulled down to a mostly still pit of darkened emotions in the back of my mind, and I could feel the onsets of apathy beginning to take over. I had long since come to the conclusion that I must have been the reason for those changed demons to have gotten into that fragmented world; that was the second time I'd ever been there, the first I had managed to get dragged out of the claws of Netami's hounds, as Monique had elequently put it. It didn't take me long to guess that, just like last time, the black liquid had clung, and got pulled through – So essentially all of this was my fault to begin with.

I didn't have the tracking device in my arm anymore, so I was safe in that regard; However, considering how much work Netami and whoever else was after me had already put into tracking me down, I knew it would only be so long until they managed to track me down – and so long would likely translate to a few hours, or a day at most, I guessed. And considering that I now knew Netami was my full blooded sister, the reflection world would only be safe for traveling through – other than that, I was in trouble. Realistically, this world was under the care of Spirit World, so here and Koenma's world were both under constant supervision – Making the world of Demons the only safe world I could wander through – Or rather more safe than a world under surveilance.

Through the charcoal scent and hints of decay, I could pick where I was; The scent of lakewater and forestry decay was recogniseable to me – Human forests, and the water was clean, however still. It had been a very long time since I'd been back here. Despite my rational thoughts about not being safe here, I couldn't seem to bring myself to actually accept my thoughts wholeheartedly. I had spent the calmer parts of my life in this world, so it was essentially home to me. Maybe, if I said goodbye to this place properly, I could actually bring myself to move on with the cards I'd been dealt – the Demon world, even though I saw only one village, I felt certain it had to be better than living here on run every day. I wasn't even human to begin with, so it wasn't like I belonged here, anyway – a sharp pain shot through my chest as I thought on this fact.

Ignoring the pain that shot through my chest, I brought myself to my feet carefully. I was certain that however long I'd remained in the house, if I stayed too much longer, I may as well walk straight into Spirit World itself.

The darkness had shifted to silhouettes of charred wood, and darker doorways; As I made my way out of the stone room, the doorway I walked through lead to a flight of steps that were mostly burnt away, leaving the stone underlay covered by charcoal. There was no roof above my head; A cloudy sky was all that I could see above, through the mess of charcoal around the entranceway an obstruction I felt moderately confident in being capable of moving out of the way, or at least squeezing past.

As I climbed from the last of the charcoal logs, bag of my original belongings slung over my shoulder as I moved, I found myself staring out at a rather ghastly forest; Yes, I recognised it, to an extent, it seemed like since I'd been dead, and missing, the place had taken a dramatic change. The forest itself looked like it had lost something important, bringing me to wonder if Kurama himself did anything to help with the forest's life force? Deciding to forgo the thoughts and speculations on a place that I was never returning to in the forseeable future, I turned to face the charred remains of the Spirit Detective household. Though I did spend a lot of time here, nothing really all that important to me happened here, asside from being locked up here. I said my mental goodbyes, turning on my heel to begin the treck to the city; There were mirrors there I could jump back and forth through while I tried to find a way out, and if I didn't say goodbye to the city itself, I probably wouldn't cope out on my own.

Well, not on my own. As my running footsteps echoed through the strangely lifeless forest, I cast my less-than-lively gaze upon the ground itself. What was I supposed to do about those souls fused to the inner world of my body? It wasn't like I could trance myself into my own inner world and run around with a pair of sissors and a scalple to cut everyone out. They were fused, and I had no knowledge about how to traverse inner worlds. Traversing reflections, I could do – In fact, as I continued to run, I knew I most certainly could traverse reflections properly now – after all, I'd run through mirrors and reflective surfaces more than two, three times now. And if I did end up somehow managing to get into my own inner world, what was going to happen if I supposibly managed to split the fused souls from my body? Would it kill me while I was doing it? This fusing happened over ten years ago; I was no rocket scientist or necromancer or anything overly smart like that, but I had at least enough common sense to know that there would be side effects. I could feel my pit of negative emotions becoming bigger and bigger, the more I thought about things like this; But what else could I do? I was alone again, and probably going to be hunted down sooner or later.

The skyscrapers of the city slowly came to my notice through the trees many minutes later, dragging my thoughts from my predicament, and to the real home I was saying goodbye to. As I reached the outer layer of the city, I could feel that I really had already begun to miss this place before I even knew it; While I had been a cynical young woman when I lived here, I was at a comfortable pace. I realised, as I let my feet do the walking as I looked around slowly, that there was no way I could ever come back here, even if my problems myseriously vanished on me. There were many places where the beings of Spirit World could spy from; Now that I'd been on the run for a while and could appreciate the serenity of safety, I could see many places in this world that spies could watch from. Even if I was no longer useful for whatever Netami wanted me for, there was no way Spirit World was going to let a Veiku live here; not when crime was so easy for a mirror-dweller to pull off without a hitch.

I could feel in my stomach, that the Spirit Detectives would have been left alone; Whether it was my imagination or a rare case of this strange intuition human women claimed to have, I did feel certain that with me out of their picture, they probably could come back after a year or two, and they were most likely _not _being pursued.

The windows of the buildings were all just like mirrors; so many ways I could get into the other side, which meant as long as I didn't manage to magically break everything made of glass, like the last time I was here under stressful circumstances, I could escape practically anyone who would come looking for me. This made my chances a little better, I noted. I'd never noticed how shiny the city actually was – and for the first time, I was glad for all the breakable glass windows. Sure, one or two people would panic if they saw me vanish through a reflective surface, but it wasn't a problem.

"Alright, Meia. Just say your goodbyes and be done with it." I spoke to myself, looking over to the familiar sight of the icecream vendor I used to visit off towards the right. It looked like business was booming, as always; I could see many teenagers surrounding the little stand. For some reason, now that I was saying goodbye to it, the city seemed to hold a kind of life that I never noticed before. What a way to make things feel worse than they already were, hey?

A sudden force hit me hard in my right shoulder, causing me to blink in shock – However I managed to remain silent; It would be just my luck to let out a squeak and people suddenly noticed me. I steadied myself on my feet, looking at what I had bumped into, to see a group of three girls; Two of the girls I didn't know from one another, however, the one that I had bumped into had me almost freeze in my place; the familiar sight of short bronze hair in a familiar, somewhat childish face had me almost panic, however, she neither seemed to recognise me, nor did she actually look at me.

"Oh, sorry." The girl spoke, her voice so familiar that I had to stop myself from actually speaking; Now wasn't the time to be trapped in thoughts of actually saying 'Hello'. The two girls I didn't recognise, however, gave me confused looks, yet they didn't actually say anything to me. I forced my gaze straight ahead once again, forcing my rather numb feet to begin walking again.

"Hey, Mokoto? Didn't that girl look like that friend of yours that went missing?" I heard a voice speak, in a hushed tone more or less, but that rather irritating enhanced hearing of mine could hear them as if they were talking right at me.

"Huh? Missing?" Rang Mokoto's voice, confusion echoing in the tones of her words – I had a hard time not stopping and turning around.

"Yeah! Shuichi's friend!" My stomach got the better of me; I slowed to a halt, and looked over at where the three girls were walking. They were disappearing through the crowd in my vision, but I could still hear them.

"Oh." Mokoto's voice spoke, echoing with a kind of disinterested tone that made my stomach begin to knot itself together. "No. She's dead, I think."

"What?" The two girls with Mokoto squeaked in usion, as that knotting in my stomach began to actually hurt; A lump rose in the back of my throat as I let out a weary breath.

"I don't really care, anyway; She went strange before she went and disappeared anyway, so she may as well be dead." That knotting felt like the turning of a knife, but as I began to walk my own way, I could feel that emotional pain begin to lessen, if just slightly. I guess ever since I died, there was no point in me coming back. Even though it hurt like hell, and it felt like she'd never even cared to begin with, I slowly began to push all of that out of my mind. In a way, that just made it easier for me to say goodbye, but at the same time, it made it harder too.

As the continuing discussion between those three girls faded into the rabble of the crowds, I could hear the faint sounds of a set of footsteps that … for some reason, I actually recognised. Instead, I actually placed my attention on these somewhat distant footsteps as I tried to force Mokoto from my mind, beginning to walk towards one of the shopping arcades down towards the left; Remarkably, I actually remembered where half of these places were. If this was someone I didn't want to bump into, I had several different choices; and if this was someone who was just a coincidental demon, then there was no problem with me fading through a reflection anyway.

My fingertips ran along the panes of glass as I walked down the walkway through to the arcade, remaining silent as I listened in on those footsteps – they were getting closer, I could hear that quite well. I let out that breath I'd been holding for some reason, stepping down the next walkway to my left as I moved. I slowly began to push the footsteps out of my mind, as I realised that there really wasn't any point in me keeping tabs on it. It wasn't like there was anywhere I could escape to, anyway, other than the reflection, which was fast becoming less and less inviting the more my mind continued to think about it. There was always the chance they could travel through mirrors, too, and no matter where I ran to, there would always be someone waiting for me – Waiting to catch me the moment I let my guard down. Of course, me being some human-world trained girl, that would be pretty soon – that condecending, almost Usagi-like voice in the back of my head spoke. I also wondered, when Netami was probably gonna do something about me herself; her liquid minions and whoever else that was _probably _after me hadn't made any real close calls that I could remember offhand; Perhaps while I was dead and all, but not while I've been conscious myself to do anything about it.

My feet had ended up taking me into the end of the small acrade this way; the stores in this stretch were all closed; Doors locked and windows shut, and even all the floors were shiny and reflective – A perfect place for me to be if I had to suddenly throw myself into the reflection world; There also weren't any immediate humans to get involved if something suddenly went south. However, as I looked over at a small wall mirror, I had myself wondering, if I should carry an escape route with me wherever I go; after all, this probably wasn't going to be the rarest of events; I was made even more certain of this as I heard those footsteps continue to get louder, and louder.

Why didn't I just step through a reflection now? I couldn't understand why I felt the need to stand here and wait for whoever that was to actually find me; It wasn't the confidence that I could slip through in the nick of time if something happened, but at the same time, it wasn't because I should wait. I did know those footsteps, somewhat, they were even paced, yet quiet. There was also the cursed possibility that I was imagining things all together – Hell, if there really were seventy something other people inside my body, then probably an aweful lot of what I've seen around me that wasn't there to begin with.

I closed my eyes slowly as I heard the footsteps slow to a kind of halt at the entrance to the small shop room I was in, pressing the fingertips of my right hand onto the glass of the window I was standing in front of. I did watch as the clear surface of the window ripple beneath my hand, and slowly engulf it, like it was some kind of jelly water. It seemed I didn't need to think about it anymore to be able to work with the strange things. I couldn't see anything behind me as I continued to mess with the window, nor could I tell who it was – Just hurry up and go through the window, Stupid! I clearly wasn't after any information from who it was, so why couldn't I just get going like I had reasoned before?

"Onna." Came a familiar voice all of a sudden, snapping me out of my moment of thought like I'd been slapped. I hesitated, before I dared a look over my shoulder; sticking my arm into the actual reflection itself, I took half a pace towards the reflection as I turned slightly. Over by the entrance, was a being clad in a black coat, with a white scarf around his neck, and a white bandanna wrapped his forehead. The familiar irritation that sat as an emotion in his eyes while the rest of his expression was emotionless was more than familiar; but I was somewhat surprised that he'd even made the bother of coming to human world; Unless something happened while I'd run off.

"H-Hiei?" I spoke, my voice quiet; I couldn't help but step a little closer to the reflection as I looked to see if anyone else was coming; But both my vision and my hearing picked up nothing – just the dull sounds of the human world's city bustling. Why was it just him? It didn't make any sense. "What're you doing here?"

"I don't have to answer to you!" Hiei spoke bitterly, a snap to his voice, as if he was defencive for some reason. I let out a faint breath, a faint smile creeping in place as I placed my attention back on the reflection.

"Then it's got nothing to do with me." I spoke simply, turning to walk through that reflection my arm was still sticking through. An irritated growl echoed from where Hiei was standing, causing me to blink. I took a step through, the front half of my body stepped through the jelly water substance, when I heard him grumble something incoherrently. Blinking momentarily as I came to a halt, I turned and leant back out of the reflection again, so my head and shoulders were poking out of the actual window of the shop. "Sorry?"

"I was told to come find you." Hiei spoke, his expression showing irritation and … discomfort? I blinked momentarily at his statement, and also the tone in his voice – it was like he was forcing himself to actually speak against his wishes. Strange … What was even stranger was that he actually listened to whoever this was.

"Really?" I spoke, and I couldn't help but sound a little suspicious. "Who told you I was here?" I wasn't stupid – Demon world was probably just as big as Earth, and most certainly wasn't able to be telepathically searched in a matter of hours. I was pretty certain Spirit world was much the same. His irritation seemed to lessen slightly, though I wasn't in any mood to go and try to figure out why that was.

"Baka Onna called herself Monique." Hiei spoke after a moment, catching me by surprise; I was pretty certain my expression showed it, and probably that less happy expression that reflected the gutted feeling that was beginning to surface again.

"Monique, huh." I spoke, looking away from Hiei as I thought on that. The sneaky girl probably told him everything before she … died. Why did Monique speak with him though? She had to have a reason; she wouldn't have spoken to just anyone … would she? "Did she say why she wanted you to find me?" Silence met my question, much to my bitter expectance. I stepped back out of the reflection, leaning back on the now solid state of the window as I looked back up at Hiei hesitantly. I didn't know how to get back to Demon world for a start, but Hiei, I felt certain did – After all, he was back here. If he could show me how to get back there, I might just stand a chance … and I might be able to find someone to show me how to sever those souls … "Where are the others?" I asked after a few moments, watching Hiei's expression as he eyed me oddly.

"Don't know." He spoke simply, pushing his hands into the pockets of his coat. That was an interesting piece of information. "Somewhere in the Makai, for all I care." I lowered my gaze again, looking down at the reflective surface of the floor after a few moments.

"How hard is it to get back there?" I questioned, looking back up at Hiei as I thought I heard him scoff at my question.

"Human children are a common menace." Hiei spoke sarcastically, causing me to remain silent. Even though the comment itself was sarcastic, that at least told me it wasn't that hard to get there … I looked back up at him again as I thought on that a little longer.

"Can you show me how to get back? Please?" I spoke, however after a few moments, Hiei just turned and began to leave at a walk. "Wait! Please! At least tell me how to get there!"

"You're annoying." I heard Hiei speak, however I remained silent as I watched him continue to leave. Well … it looked like I was stuck here …

"Great ..." I spoke quietly, lowering my gaze back to the floor again. I could feel my heart sinking in my chest as I tried to think of something to do … It wasn't like I knew any other demons that could tell me how to get back there – Or any humans, either.

"_Hurry up."_ I heard Hiei speak, his voice echoing in my head like Usagi's voice used to. I looked back up to that corridor hesitantly, my gaze falling upon a silhouette that was standing at the end of the walkway. I blinked momentarily, feeling the faintest of smiles begin to creep back onto my face as I began to follow him.

Though, as I caught up, and Hiei began to lead the way onwards, I couldn't help but wonder why he listened to Monique, when she asked him to come find me.


	71. Tricks Of The Mirror

**[AUTHORS NOTE]** Hey everyone! It's been a while, aye! I'm sorry for the lacking in updates – I've had an aweful lot going on in my life of late, and I've only just gotten the motivation to get back into writing. I'm moving house in three weeks, and I've of course been preparing everything so it goes off without a hitch. I'm finally starting my life on my own with my partner of 3.5 years, and all of my time's been going into that. But anyways, I've done my best to make this the longest chapter I've ever written for this story, and I hope you all are happy with it. I've also worked to make this rather in-depth, considering that there still are a lot of unanswered questions about this story, I'm willing to wager. I've gone to the effort of answering some of those remaining questions, and of course, I'd love it if anyone would like to give me some feedback about how this story is going =)

If anyone's interested in seeing what Meia actually looks like, then I've got a treat for you =) I've gotten an illustration of her uploaded onto my DeviantART account (I made this one about a month ago) She is actually the main Character in a book I'm writing, and I wanted to draw her as she is in that book, which is practically the exact same as in The Fear Of Blood, minus her gun and blade, cause that's what she uses in the book XD  
The link to her is on my profile page, if you'd like to check her out. If you'd like to go through my other stuff on DeviantART, then please feel free. The illustrations on my page are all done by me, unless they're labeled otherwise XD

Anyway, please enjoy; And for the lovely , I hope you both enjoy this chapter – I've put a lot of work into this ;)

And Anon, I remember a small something you mentioned about more Hiei-time – I hope you approve of this XD

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE: Tricks Of The Mirror  
**_

After what I felt was more walking than really anything else, and an evening worth of my own mental reasoning, I had ended up following Hiei through a vast stretch of the Human world, and then through the division between the human and demon worlds. While in myself, I didn't really pick how we'd ended up here, all I knew was that the trees were suddenly different, and I didn't know what portal or barrier we'd walked through. It was possible I was too lost in thought to notice.

I let my gaze trace the strange expanses of the Makai forests as I followed Hiei along the path we'd ended up walking along – He hadn't said a word since we left Tokyo, but I was content with that for some reason. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to talk or anything, but it just felt normal, and more familiar than anything else I'd experienced ever since I was revived. It wasn't as if I actually liked being around Hiei, either, but more or less like he was the only one left who hadn't actually done anything to warrant my lack of trust in him. On the contrary; He could have left me on my own and enjoyed not having to babysit me, but he listened to Monique for some reason and came to find me. It was probably foolish to think this way, but I couldn't help but feel that way – Now that Usagi had vanished on me, and Monique had … gone, there wasn't really anyone left for me to trust.

I looked up at Hiei's back as we walked up a particularly tall hill, watching him as I thought slowly. He had his head tilted to the side slightly as he looked around the area, which was probably what I should be doing as well, but I couldn't help but drift off into thought every time my mind went silent. Where exactly were we going, anyway? I only had intentions in coming back to the Makai, and as foolish as it was, I hadn't thought any further – It felt like I really shouldn't think any further than the immediate action in this situation, which of course is stupid when you're on the run, and you don't even plan where you're going to hide out. It wasn't like I knew where anything in the Makai was to even plan that far ahead. Maybe, I was supposed to have gone my own way when Hiei lead me back here; I had no way of knowing, cause I'd spent the whole time becoming lost in thought to begin with!

"Onna." Came Hiei's voice all of a sudden, practically slapping me out of my thought without a second to spare; as I looked back at Hiei consciously, I noticed that he'd come to a stop, and was looking at me over his shoulder. I came to a halt, keeping my gaze upon Hiei as he seemed to give me one of those looks that I couldn't understand. "What's the point in coming back here?" I blinked at his question, biting down on my bottom lip as I felt my fingers fidgit slightly. I was rather surprised to be asked that; Especially from Hiei. However, given the situation, it was a reasonable question, I guess.

"It's not safe here." I began, choosing my words carefully as Hiei seemed to frown at me for some reason. I looked away from him after a moment, releasing my bottom lip as I let out a weary breath. "But it just … feels like a smarter thing to do than to hide in the Human world. Hiding out in Spirit world's essentially giving the foul giant an axe while I put my neck on a chopping block." I looked back at Hiei after a moment, to see a rather blank look across his face – I'd only seen this look once, and he'd never directed it at me before. It was weird – I was used to receiving nothing but bored looks, glares and frowns from Hiei; This blank look was something rather new to me. It must have been the imagery from what I said about Koenma's father. After a few moments, as I began to wonder if I said something I shouldn't have, a very faint smirk crept across Hiei's face – If I wasn't actually paying attention to the looks he was giving me, I would have missed it.

"So all you plan to do is hide?" Hiei asked, and his question actually made me frown. No, that wasn't _all _I was planning to do – but of course, I had the suspicion that he was picking on me at this moment. It was strange for him to act this way, I found; At least towards me. When it came to Yusuke, yeah, it was normal. I could at least see that Hiei actually respected Yusuke in a sense, at least to pick on him. I knew it had to be different in my case – But of course I came up with no idea as to what it could be. He still never called me by my name, whereas everyone else, he did.

"No." I took to answering, lowering my gaze to the ground as I once again tried to figure out how I was going to word what I was thinking. I could practically see the bloody forest in my mind's eye, and of course, I had to try and deal with how to remove those souls from me, if it was in any way possible. "I guess I just need some answers."

"Pointless." Hiei cut in rather suddenly, and I found myself practically gaping at him. He'd begun to walk onwards, his hands buried in his pockets and his back to me – it took a moment for me to begin walking, and another to catch up so I was walking just behind him.

"How so?" I questioned, tilting my head to the side slightly as I chose to look around like I had been before we stopped.

"What's the point? Answers won't change anything important." He spoke, causing me to blink in confusion. I lifted my gaze to place it back upon Hiei, where I watched him for a few moments in thought. He was right, in a sense.

"But, it will help me figure out how to undo that woman's work." I replied, earning a glance from Hiei for just a moment. I didn't hear any response to my small statement, however I was actually glad for it; I barely had enough in me to rationalize my trouble with myself, let alone speak of it out-loud to Hiei. However, the longer I thought about it, I was beginning to curse my choice of just discarding that book Koenma had been clinging to for dear life; I hadn't even seen what was written inside it, before I chose to leave it on the step of that building. It might have had answers that I could have used. "Damn it, I'm so _stupid!" _

"What?"

"The Book Koenma had!" I squeaked, placing my gaze to the rather confused looking Hiei as he seemed to stare at me. "When I went into that reflection after Monique, I left that cursed book behind! UGH! Why did I _do _that?!" Now practically yelling at myself, I didn't notice the silence that had met my words; I was too busy getting even more upset at myself for just discarding the book Koenma clung to as if his life depended on it.

"I have it."

All of a sudden, my thoughts had come to a grinding halt, and my feet had suddenly become firmly planted to the ground; As I once again snapped my gaze up to Hiei, I could feel that a lack of comprehension showed across my face – Unfortunately for me, it matched my thought process quite well at that moment.

"What – You _have _it?!" I managed to ask, though I felt certain he was just saying that to be rather cruel; I blinked slowly as I saw him come to a halt, and look over his shoulder at my face. His expression was rather straight, as if he was just being matter-of-fact with me, but I just couldn't believe that. After a few seconds, I saw him shift his gaze away as he then went through a pocket on the inside of his coat, as if he was looking for something. Before I knew what was going on, however, I saw him then look back at me as he then held up what I immediately recognised as a blue-covered book. He seemed to toss the book over to me, catching me by surprise; I almost fell over in my attempt to catch it before it hit the ground. It was the genuine book, however it no longer stunk like swamp-stink; It smelt like Hiei did; He must have had it for a few days, then? Slowly, as realisation overcame me, I lifted my gaze to look up at Hiei once again, to see that he was still watching me, however his expression was touched with the tiniest hints of what I assumed to be thought.

"Did … Monique give this to you?" I managed to ask, ignoring the uncomfortable sensations I got from saying Monique's name.

"Hn." Was all Hiei seemed to say, before he turned, and began to continue onwards to wherever it was that we were going – I didn't know, and right at that moment, I really didn't care. I slowly looked down at the book again, biting my bottom lip as I thought for just a second. I eventually dragged my gaze back up to look at Hiei, to find that he was already quite a way ahead of me. Forcing my feet into motion, I began to inspect the book for the first time since I knew of it's relevence to me. I had the desire to hug the fire apparition in thanks, but of course that was a dangerous thing to do, I gathered. While I had never done this to have conclusive knowledge about the matter, no one so much as touched Hiei, and there had to be a reason for that. He was probably more than happy to sever limbs if anyone attempted anything. It made a lot of sense to me, when I thought of it that way.

But as I thought of dangers, my mind eventually went back to my biggest problem at that moment; How was I supposed to get rid of the fused souls within me? I hoped this book would give me the answers I need, cause as I thought honestly on the situation, I was running out of options – After all, all living family members was one hommicidal sister, and I had the feeling that all remaining people familiar enough with my past to provide information would rather kill me with their bare hands than be helpful in the least.

Flicking through the first couple of pages of the book, my gaze traced over paragraphs and sentences that didn't really make any sense to me. They were to the context of psychology, of course something that I believed was of no help to me right now – Maybe once this whole problem of incarceration if not death had passed over, I might find this part interesting. I was catching up with Hiei as I glanced up ahead, so I didn't really drag my attention too far from the book; It seemed like he was content keeping an eye on me, and I wasn't going to complain – I rathered this than hiding out or just wandering around on my own.

However, as I flicked through to a further page in the book, one word caught my attention – Enough so where I felt my hands fall motionless, however my feet obediently continued to keep me walking at a rather descent pace. The pages of this book were a yellowing brown, damaged and worn; And all the ink was hand-written into this book, making reading a little difficult, however the word practically leapt out at me.

The page itself was another of those long winded number of paragraphs about Psychology, however the word Mirror-Dweller was written in a bold, capitalised font in comparison to the slanted scrawl that the rest of the writing kept in uniform with. Considering that the book was clearly in connection with me, the term Mirror-Dweller of course made a pretty clear connection to me. I didn't feel my feet slow to a kind of stroll as I squinted down at the slanted scrawl in order to try and depict what was actually written.

_The world of reflections closly resembles the real world, adorned with landmarks and other such features that forms a near mirror-image of this. However, the world of reflections is filled with a great mist, and holds no hues of the real world. It is a cold, grey world that the MIRROR-DWELLER will reside within, a safe haven for the piranah of the Human Children. _

Of course I frowned at this, however I was aware that Victor and Monique had explained the nature of my own race before they met their end; If this had of been Spirit World's reason for my incarceration, then I probably wouldn't be having such a hard time coming to grips with this. But of course, it wasn't.

As I continued to read onwards, a sudden force smacked me in the face; Or rather, I'd just walked into something. One of those familiar white flashes of burning hit me square in the face, effectively stunning me. Stumbling backwards as I tried to figure out what had just happened, I found that I had just walked into Hiei, who was looking at me as if I had done something rather stupid; He looked torn between wanting to tell me off, and just shaking his head in dismay.

"U-uh … Sorry?" I managed to speak, closing the book I had as I saw him frown at me.

"We're staying here the night." Hiei remarked all of a sudden, stunning me to a silent stupor. I couldn't help but blink, finally noticing the fact that it was actually sunset as I chose this moment to actually look around; the area was darkening hues, and for some stupid reason, I never noticed it against my book because of my greatly improved eyesight.

"Oh ..." Was about all I could actually say; I had honestly thought it was still early afternoon right at that moment. I then tried to search for where Hiei meant by staying the night, but all I could really see was a kind of small clearing beneath several gigantic trees. "Where?"

"Baka." Hiei's voice echoed, however he sounded rather exasperated. I attempted to cast a frown at him, however I immediately found myself to be staring at an empty space. It took me a few moments to remember that the guy had lightning-quick movements, and of course when I _did _remember, I was feeling more than just a little stupid – And slow. We'd been _walking _all day, and Hiei probably could have ran this distance in about half an hour. This certainly wasn't helping what little self-esteem I had left.

"That's not very nice – I like to believe I'm a bit smarter than Kuwabara!" I tried to complain as a joke, however I immediately found that this wasn't helping _me. _Kuwabara at least knew about the Makai and how to defend himself. In comparrison to that, I was useless.

"Hn." Was all Hiei seemed to say after what felt like several long moments, however I barely noticed. Looking over to where his voice came from this time, I found myself staring at a path that lead through the densely formed forest, and I could see the tiniest hints of the fire apparition walking down there. I furrowed my brow into a frown as I of course began to follow Hiei, inwardly wondering why the man was even being this patient with me, when I had the knowledge that he would rather be doing anything else.

I eventually came to another small clearing much further into the Makai forest, surrounded with dense plant-life and trees much taller than I'd ever seen in real life; Though none of them seemed to come close to the trees I'd seen in a video-game. Of course, Hiei was somewhere out of my field of vision, so I chose to sit down with my back against the tallest tree. He did say something about resting here the night – so there was no real harm in me hanging around here with the book. Of course, I wasn't even sure where in the Makai we were, not that I was intending to go somewhere in particular. My plans for the Makai once I got here was just to wander around and figure out what I was going to do – Now that I was here, I was just wandering around. Going back to that cursed village was the furtherest from my mind. But maybe if I explored that place properly, I might find more answers than this book could give me.

Silence echoed throughout the forest as I slowly flicked through the pages. Apart from that Mirror-Dweller paragraph, really there wasn't much that I could see as relevent to my needs. Though, I did come to the assumption that Netami was living on the other side of the mirror – Out of reach of anyone. Hell, she might even be on the other side of Spirit World's Mirror, living comfortably where I was originally supposed to be incarcerated. It made a lot of sense, now that I knew King Enma and Netami were working together to warp time. Why the ruler of Spirit World wanted to do that was beyond me. Did he have his own reasons for manipulating time? Was there a reason why he had to do something _through _time manipulation and through no other means?

I made a mental note to bring this up with Koenma – If I ever saw him again to ask. Even with everything that had happened, I still didn't have the entire belief the Toddler guy had it out for me; He seemed to be trying hard to make sure nothing happened to his people – I just was that factor that had an effect on that, I guessed.

A faint rustling above my head came to my notice; So much so that I lowered the book in my grip and directed my gaze to the tree right above me. For some reason, the sound had me smile slightly, and I soon realised that Hiei had gone and set himself down up in the tree-tops. For some reason, this made sense to me – however, I didn't really know why. I guessed I should take this time to skim through this book; I might not get an opportunity like this again, I decided.

But despite my attempts at finding answers to my Soul problem, all I found were tibbits of information I'd already pieced together or been told – Stuff like my Sister was a hommicidal woman, hellbent on getting what she wanted because that's what my people are typically like in the purest form, and that those monsters were physical manifestations of the souls inside my own body – Which of course gave me the creeps, now that I had time to fully think on this. I had the souls of Seventy Nine dead people inside of me, and of course that meant there were seventy nine of those things following me around.

But through all these pages of information, there really wasn't anythingthat would explain why Koenma was so desperate to keep this book on him at all times – I even began to wonder if he was panicking because of it's absense. All of this information, I already knew, basically – He could have just asked me, and I would have been able to tell him all this. Instead, he chose to go about it as if he was suspicious of him, like I was about to turn on them at any given moment.

However, through my flicking through the last pages of this book, I soon found myself coming to a stop at the third from the back. It was a mostly blank piece of paper, with the tiniest hints of scrawled handwriting along the bottom half of the page. Nothing about the words themselves stuck out at me – just the oddity that the page was half empty, as if words had originally been there, or they were still there, but I couldn't see them in this light – Like invisible markers that only showed when you shined a black-light on it. But of course, that didn't make much sense to me.

"_You need to cover the page with ice." _Came a voice that sounded exactly like mine from the back of my mind, but I had the gut feeling that I wasn't the one that thought this. I blinked down at the page, before faint realisation overcame me. My memory still had many holes in it, which said that my memory-form hadn't quite settled in place just yet – Umiko was still a separate person from me at this moment.

"_Cover the page with Ice, huh?" _

"_It's a two-realm book; you can see into the other side if you just cover it with ice; Make your own reflection-portals – remember?" _

I couldn't help but blink at this piece of information, and a faint smile touched my pale features as I continued to stare down at the book.

"_I hadn't realised I can do that." _This was true; The fact that I could make my own accessways into the other layer never crossed my mind. In reality, I had assumed that those refelctions I could travel through had to be pre-existing in this world for the connection to be made.

"_No – Any reflection is connected to the world; The realm of reflection overlays this world – You just need to make a reflection to be able to do that. It works on both sides." _

"_So … I could really use anything in the world that holds a reflection – Including water itself?" _

"_Anything that holds a reflection." _

This whole reflection deal was doing me a hell of a lot of good – I'd be able to escape any time and any place once I got a reflection up and running; But at the same time, considering that Netami was the same as me, she'd obviously know she can do this too – Hell, she probably knew everything there was to know about how this reflection deal worked. Whereas me, I was pretty clueless about everything, to be blatantly honest with myself. And of course I hated it.

"_But she'll be able to use whatever reflections I make, won't she?"_

"_Not exactly." _Umiko piped up after a moment, causing a small frown to creep across my face as I waited for her to explain. _"With time and training, our people can make perfect reflections like this world, however we can't do this yet. Our own reflections are imperfect and mangle the empty space between the two layers because we are unfamiliar with our powers themselves, let alone the fact that we've never had the opportunity to teach ourselves to use them. This makes it hard for others to use our reflections, because they can't define between the beginning and the end of the reflection, because it's not a clean reflection."_

"_So she can't use our reflections, but we can most certainly use hers." _

"_Mostly true." _Umiko once again decided to correct me on this. "_Because she has great experience with reflections, she will be able to reconstruct our reflections to follow through, however this can be time consuming, and Veiku are impatient creatures. She will just try to guess where we have gone, unless she has no choice but to use our own reflections. However, when we have had enough training, we will be able to construct reflections only we can use – Because while Veiku pride themselves on Perfect Reflections, true effectiveness comes from an imperfect reflection – And we will be able to make those." _

"_Imperfect Reflections, huh?" _I thought slowly on this, my fingertips tracing the worn paper as I leant back against the fallen tree trunk at my back. That would be handy, but that still doesn't stop her from waiting on the other side for me to be stupid.

Of course, if I made a giant dome of it over me, that might be enough of a looking area for me to gauge whether or not it was safe for me to wander through. Or I'd just make it so easy for her to see me; After all, the Giant Dome would show on the other side as well, and she'd be able to see straight through it.

But then again, I wouldn't have to walk through it.

I finally decided I should really see what was hidden on this page – I let out a sigh after a moment, pressing the palm of my right hand to the pages of the book gently. The last time I'd done anything to do with this was when that monster attacked me in my former prison; That whole struggle still had me shudder whenever I thought about it, but of course I was safe at that moment. Slowly, as I felt that sensation of my energy trail down the veins of my arm to the palm of my hand, I saw a wafer-thin layer of ice actually begin to grow across the pages of the book in small lines. Of course I had to concentrate on what I was doing instead of stare at the ice like a gaping idiot, despite how much I actually wanted to.

Amazingly enough, words began to appear on the top half of the page as the ice grew over the heavily damaged pages, in a different scrawl to the one I'd gotten used to seeing across the pages. I attempted to read the writing before the ice had completely covered the page, however I found myself quickly becoming irritated with the trouble I was having.

But then I found myself wondering if there were more secrets in this book I had to find using reflective surfaces – It was possible. I decided to look into it later, after I finally read what this page was about. Finally, as the ice covered the page in it's entirety, I looked down at the writing, but soon found myself a little confused. It wasn't a part of the book like the rest of the writing, but rather a letter of sorts?

_To whom you may be, reading this hidden page._

_For you to be reading this entry of my failings, I have come to my inevitable passing. I have held onto this collection of my people's sins, waiting for the true recipient to retrieve them; I pray that this is you._

_This book entitles you with the history of our people, crafted with blood-soaked hands. Both the sins of myself, and my own people are within this book._

_Be you kinsman of our sins, I pray you reconsider the actions you are about to take. However, be you victim of our sins, then please pay no pity to our fates; We aught deserve more for what we have done._

_There are many things we have done, and we do not deserve forgiveness. If you who read this have conscious and wish to appease the souls of the condemned, then I ask one thing. _

_Please, find my Great-Grandaughter Umiko, and give her this book; She will know what to do with it._

I found myself blinking in confusion at this; After all, that was my Demon-name written as the true recipient of this book, and for the life of me, I wasn't sure what to make of this. I was more or less confused that this author of the book; My Great-Grandmother, apparently had written this for me. Did she know something like this was going to happen?

"_It was our Great-Grandmother that revived us." _Umiko's voice piped up in the back of my mind, causing me to blink in confusion. "_She was also the one who helped our mother fuse everyone's souls to our own – I can't recall anything more about her. We've never met her consciously." _I sifted through my memory of what was said about my revival. All that I _could _recall was the name of the necromancer; And that was Dante.

"_Wait!" _I thought, staring down at the book in my grip as I began to join more dots together. "_You mean the woman who revived me was a Veiku – Just like us?" _

"_A Veiku, yes, but we are not a Veiku ourselves." _

"_What?"_

"_We are not a Veiku; We are Ukiev. When twins are born from the union of Veiku, they are the embodiment of the Time's Flow; The Veiku – Our Sister – being the embodiment of the predatory traits, and the Ukiev being the embodiment of passive traits. Veiku are prideful creatures, and anything less than the purest of Veiku traits are usually abandoned or killed; Had we not been born with our ability, Maria would surely have killed us."_

I remained silent for a few moments as I absorbed this information. In a way, this did explain why my mother and sister weren't the nicest of people – And it did explain why I was kind of the black sheep of the family. I wasn't one of them. Now that I had this information, it just felt a bit more like I uderstood. Kind of.

I lifted my gaze up to the treetops, where I had the feeling Hiei was perched up; It appeared he liked to sit up in Tree branches. Maybe because it was hard to spot him up there, or people generally didn't like to climb trees, so he was without pests to annoy him. I decided to go with the latter of the two; This seemed like the perfect way to keep Kuwabara away from him, I guessed. He didn't seem to like Kuwabara at all, and I began to wonder why this was. No one's ever really explained it to me. Probably because they all assumed my fate would have been decided before it really became necessary.

"Can I ask you a question?" I finally asked, however I didn't raise my voice so he could hear properly; He seemed like the type that would glare at me if I made too much noise. There was no response to my words, no movement of the like. However I had a very good feeling that he had actually heard me. I glanced down at the book in my hands for just a moment, thinking on the question I wanted to ask him before I brought my gaze up to the tree-tops once again. "What's more likely? Netami getting bored and just forgetting the whole deal? Or I screw up and get captured?" This really was a stupid question; I knew in myself Netami wouldn't just give up on capturing me, even though I didn't know what she wanted to accomplish by warping time. But I was actually curious as to what the Fire Apparition would say. He was likely to give me a real cold, but honest answer. And I needed that more than sugar-coated nonesense.

"_Given your track record, that woman won't have to wait long."_ Was all Hiei spoke, and I frowned as I immediately realised this was in my head, like he tended to speak from time to time. Not that him talking through my head was annoying or anything, but I would have thought he'd respond verbally.

Guess I should have known better by now, huh?

"I knew it." I sighed as I leant away from the tree trunk, resting the book neatly in my lap as I then chose to stretch my arms above my head. She'll track me down on the other side, and those demons of mine'll get me from this side; It really seemed like that woman had done a lot of planning – After all, those demons could get me on both the human and demon worlds, and there was no way that giant _wouldn't _notice me in Spirit World. Silence greeted me, however I was still comfortable with that. I'd gotten tired of all this sugar-coated crap the other three would spout out a long time ago. I was condemned to nothing more than a tool, and that wasn't even guaranteeing me to retain my soul, as Victor had implied. Either which way, I was gonna die, so the sugar-coated nonesense just wasn't going to cut it.

But I didn't want to let that woman get ahold of me and get whatever she wanted – Much the opposite. While it was just a matter of time before I _was _snatched up and would never be seen again, I was determined to thrwart her plans. If those souls were the reasons for my title as Time Catalyst, then by removing those souls, I should negate time Manipulation altogether. Even though I was scared of being caught, I was more scared of being unable to do anything. All this helplessness was beginning to drive me insane.

_But how am I supposed to split those fused souls from me? It's not like this damned book has a how-to about it!_

"You don't." Hiei's voice cut through my thought processes all of a sudden – causing me to flinch. I went to snap my gaze up to the tree-tops, however I immediately found that he'd actually dropped down from the tree and was currently standing right in front of me, arms crossed. He was looking at me, a rather serious look across his face – Had he been listening to my thoughts again?!

"B-but what am I going to do?! I-I can't keep wandering around the Makai like this!" I squeaked in a rather petulant manner, the trembling in my voice making the fear I was feeling as obvious as daylight. I was scared; And I hated it.

"Even if you _could _do it, It's stupid to start ripping the walls of your own soul apart." He spoke, his tone holding a kind of no-nonsense feel to it as I stared up at his still rather serious expression. My fingers holding to the edges of the book trembled slightly as his words sunk in on me. Did he know how to remove them?!

"But I'm a walking sign post if I don't do anything! I may as well just tie myself up right now and wait for them to take me away!" It appeared that my little outburst had rung with at least a fragment of sense; Hiei watched me for a few moments in silence, his gaze narrowing upon me as he obviously thought about what I'd just said. Of course he knew those things could sense where I was; it was obvious he'd been listening to my thoughts all day!

"No." He finally answered, leaning back against the trunk of his tree as I slowly lowered my gaze to the book my trembling fingers clung to. The faint shreds of hope I'd found began to sting, and I had to bite down on my bottom lip to stop those tears of frustration from brimming.

"What am I supposed to do, then?"

"Onna-" Hiei began, a tone of exasperation touching his voice as I remained silent. "Even if breaking the remaining seals on yourself even worked, you won't be the same stupid girl. It's not worth it."

"And bringing me back was?" I heard the words leave my lips before I even realised what I'd said, and before I knew it, I found myself regretting it. I was suddenly slammed backwards against the tree I'd been sitting in front of, hitting the back of my head with enough force to daze me; The familiar burning flash of white had hit me, slightly difused by the hit to my head – I struggled to look up at the fire apparition through the distortion in my vision, to find him pinning me to the tree itself by my shoulders. It would have hurt, if I wasn't already aware that I'd said something rather stupid.

"Are you saying I wasted my time wading through _your _false worlds to revive you?" Hiei snapped, his tone rather dangerous at that moment. I was barely able to see that he looked more than just a little mad right at that moment; My ability to see through the dark was hindered by the knock to the head I'd just sustained. "Should we have left you to decay in the ice like a corpse like those fools believe?" His tone seemed to become all the more dangerous, and my body was trembling beneath his grip of my shoulders; My chest was searing in pain, and it was becoming hard for me to breathe properly. "You fail to understand the amount of trouble we went through to bring you back to life-"

"I never asked to be brought back!" I exclaimed, fighting against the trembling that had overcome me as tears escaped the corners of my eyes. That suffocating pain had risen to take hold of my air-passages, however all I could do was lower my head as I fought to get a hold of myself. "I _know _everyone's given a lot to bring me back – I _know! _But I don't know what's going on! It's not like anyone's gone to the bother of telling me anything, or explaining _why _I've had to be brought back to life in the first place!" I closed my eyes tight, trying to stop the shudders from shooting through my form, but it was no use; They just became stronger as the grip of my shoulders lessened slightly. "Everyone I get close to keeps on dying, and getting hurt because of me, and there's nothing I can _do _about it!"

"And splitting your soul into pieces is going to fix this?"

"No – It won't! But it's the one thing I can do to ruin that woman's plans that won't kill me!" Silence met my retort, and for once I was grateful; As I bit down on my bottom lip, I fought to get a hold of myself. "If I learn how, I'll sew myself back together later."

That did it – All of a sudden the grip of my shoulders vanished, and I was dropped back to the ground as Hiei took a step back to me. If I wasn't in such a state, I might have noticed the glare he had obviously shot at me.

"You really are stupid." Was all I heard, before he disappeared without a trace, leaving me alone in the cold.

Slowly, I drew my legs close to my chest as a shiver shot through my spine. I fought to take a deep breath as I finally began to calm down, now that I wasn't being pinned to a tree by my shoulders.

"Way to go, Meia ..." I groaned out, closing my eyes as I rest my head against the tree trunk at my back. "Why do you always have to get the last sarcastic word?"

I gripped tightly at the book as I tried to get some rest before I had to leave again. I knew Hiei probably wasn't going to come back – at least, not for a couple of days. I wasn't going to fool myself into thinking he _hadn't _gone, and was still around to make sure I wasn't attacked.


	72. The Sacred Grove

**[Authors Note] **Another long chapter for you all, and wow, I hope you all enjoy this. I've been working hard on getting this story done of late in amongst all my troubles. But I have an announcement for you all – I've finally moved house – into my own house with my lovely boyfriend. I've been spending the last month packing boxes, and then moving house, and now over the past two weeks, I've been unpacking the whole house myself, as well as everything else that comes with a house. But yeah, back to the important stuff.

This is Chapter Seventy Two, and I've actually found that this is my favorite chapter I've written of late. Wanna know why? Well read on and you'll find out. As usual, I'd love to get some feedback from you all about how my story is going. I know I've been really troublesome with my updating, and I'm sorry about that. But please review, I hope feedback will motivate me into writing some more stuff much sooner. And for all you readers of Down Into My Shadow, I've got a chapter coming up for that soon, I've just gotta do some revision of the story to get back into it, since it's been so long since I've updated it. And just out of curiosity, is anyone reading this a fan of Okami-san and her Seven Companions / Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi? If you are, and don't mind Liszt Kiriki (The president) then please let me know, I'm thinking about uploading something, cause I have yet to find a story about him online ^_~

Jozei / MuffinxXxSyndrome out!

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO: The Sacred Grove**_

Hiei hadn't come back throughout the night, and of course I didn't really get much sleep. Just the knowledge that those things could of course rise up out of the ground beneath me had me retreat to at least three meters into the tree I had been pinned against by Hiei. Deciding upon sunrise that I really should start moving, I began to make the inelegent climb back down to ground level. I couldn't sense him anywhere, and of course, that didn't really mean much, when you took into consideration that I had no real grasp of my abilities to begin with.

I was beginning to remember a whole lot more after that small confrontation, and I was left with just my own thoughts once again.

I really missed Usagi; Despite her sarcastic and somewhat sinister words, at least she was someone who spoke to me. I hated being alone in this place; And that was probably because I was scared the first voice I'd hear again would probably be the last I'd hear.

My attempts at searching through the book Dante had intended for me had unveiled nothing that could really help me – Nothing about Netami, or Maria – Hell, nothing that would tell me anything about myself. Nothing except for one thing; The bindings are their most maluable when Time's at it's weakest. The only recourse I had for the whole matter was that the bindings were in reference to what had been done to me, and in assuming that, I had come just one conclusion;

I had to go back to that ruined mansion, and investigate there, once again – That was where these bindings had been put in place to begin with.

I of course didn't like the thought of going back there, but I had no choice. Netami probably expected me to go back there, or had probably placed her bets on me returning to the Human world again, but I couldn't do anything about that. Being left with no other recourse was something I didn't like. Just the thought that something might be there on the other side, that was something I couldn't overlook, no matter how much I wanted to.

Now that I knew about the adoration Veiku had for writing their secrets on the reflection-side of paper, there was probably a lot that I'd missed. The thought of tracking Koenma down to question him about where Time was Strongest even came to mind, but that was a stupid idea; Kurama was probably with him, and I don't know what they'd all decided about me, but it couldn't have been good. They'd probably decided that they should capture me if they spotted me again.

But I couldn't really blame them for it, given the current situation. If I were in their shoes and thought I was a Veiku, I'd probably try to capture me, too.

I still hadn't given up the thought of severing those souls; It was the one thing I was determined to do – The _one _thing I knew I could do, if I tried. But I had to find out _how _I was going to do that. Not to complain or anything, but coming up with idea's on how to sever souls from me was difficult when I didn't even have a real grasp of my own abilities yet. I think that's probably what frightens that Toddler more than anything else – The fact that they didn't know what my abilities were.

Upon reaching the ground after five minutes of climbing, I took to dusting my clothes off - If this set ended up damaged, I was going to be quite upset. I let out a breath as I cast one more glance around the clearing, before I thought about what I was going to do. My problem was that I didn't know where I was, or where that cursed village was – But my stomach told me it was over towards my right; I felt a little sick to the stomach every time I looked in that direction, which to me was a dead giveaway.

Hiei wasn't going to come back – Not after my petulance, and I wasn't exactly happy about that. But what could I do about it, anyway? Just getting depressed about it wasn't going to help me – nothing was going to help me. I had to learn to accept that.

Should I travel by this world? Or the reflection? Both sides provided equal dangers, but if I got found on this side, I at least could escape into the nearest reflection if I couldn't make my own. If I was found on the other side, I don't know what would happen. It was almost terrifying having to consider an enemy that I didn't know the slightest about abilities. Hell, Netami probably could turn invisible for all I know! Letting out a breath, I chose to travel by the real world. It just didn't seem worth the risk to travel by reflection and get attacked before I even realise it.

Finally, I allowed my feet to move at their own accord, and I found myself soon shifting into a kind of jog along the trail back towards the path through the forest. I was getting sick of my own dependence upon others, and I was tired of being helpless in every small glimpse of trouble I caught.

The trees seemed to change in type the further along the path I jogged, and I was finally beginning to pick up on the same scent that filled that forsaken village. The longer I jogged, the more I found myself drifting into thoughts. Thoughts about whether I even wanted to go back to the Human world if I ever managed to put an end to this whole problem with my so called abilities. Really, now that I'd actually said goodbye to that place, there wasn't anything there that I wanted; I was presumed dead, and now that I was here and on my own for the first time there really wasn't anything in me that wanted to go back. Really, if this world of the Makai was a place of 'Fend for yourself' through to the core, then I had the strange feeling that this would suit me just fine. The only thing I felt I _would _miss, was the music of the Human World, but that was a tangible object that I could retrieve if I felt like it, so that really didn't count.

Really, after all of this trouble, the one thing I actually wanted was to be left well alone – In every aspect of the word. Becoming a Hermit was becoming even more appealing, the more I thought about it. I could go and retrieve an electric generator – Or _build _one, and that would solve all my problems. I'd be able to carve out the inside of a mountain or something and live in that.

But of course, that was _if _I could make this whole situation blow over like a bad dream. Yeah, easier said than done.

I was beginning to get hungry, and I was beginning to wear my body out as mid-day came around, however I chose not to think about it. It wasn't uncommon for me to skip many meals when I was living in the human world _as _a human, so this shouldn't be too hard for me to do. Of course, I did begin to wonder if this would be much easier for me if I just figured out how to get back into my demon form and learn to fly? I have wings, so why not put them to use – If I could, that was.

But this brought me back to the same problem – I didn't know if I could change into my demon form, let alone whether I could learn to fly.

"Better stick to what I know I can do." I muttered beneath my breath, forcing myself to pick up the pace as the scent of that village became just a little stronger.

It was weird how I hadn't stumbled across anyone yet; Not that I'd lived in the Makai to have any comparison to, but it just felt weird that in the six hours I'd been making my way through this forest, I hadn't stumbled upon a single person – be it demon or strange animal that I felt _should _be here. I had thought this place would be dangerous enough to kill you at any given moment, and here I was wandering through like this was a local park back in the human world, where the only danger to face was the threat of rapists, if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Eventually I reasoned with myself that I'd never really wandered around the Makai on my own – It was probably because I wasn't used to this place that I was beginning to stress over it. And that seemed to work – At least for the time being.

Finally, as I reached the top of a rather large hill, the tiniest glimpses of an ocean came to my notice through the thick curtain of forest-trees. While I didn't come to a stop, I did slow down to a short walk as I tried to figure out where the village was – I could smell it, and the scent of decay that reminded me vividly of that mansion; So it had to be close. I had long since decided not to question how good my nose was; While I didn't feel it in myself, I was more than aware that I'd have changed a great deal; I had to of changed, for the general opinion of me to have also changed this much.

Finally, I spotted the tiniest glimpse of a village down at the bottom of the hill, however there was something rather wrong. Now that I was able to see the village, I began to pick up on a different scent that of course didn't make things any better – charcoal, and burnt flesh; So much so I couldn't stifle the cough that crept up the back of my throat. The scent, while only slight through the ocean's overpowering odour was enough for my eyes to begin to water, so, taking this into consideration, I covered my nose with the sleeve of my feathery jacket. If this was what the scent of burnt flesh did to my nose, then I now understood why cat's seem to avoid people like the plague when they use deoderant or something else with a heavy scent.

But my mind was on one thing; Why was this village reeking of burnt flesh and fire, when it was still lively when I left three days ago? Something serious must have happened while I was away, but I couldn't pick up on the usual scent that told me to run for the hills. No melting Iron … Had this been caused by natural causes? My rational mind said that this was probably the case, but of course my gut told me I should really drop the idea of investigating and just find somewhere else to go.

I paid heed to the warnings my gut were bombarding me with, however I still continued along the path that lead down to the village remains. While I could smell that there had been a fire, there was no smoke; It seemed like the fire had started not a day after I left – That would have given the flames some time to die down and stop burning. Sucking in an uncomfortable breath through the white material of my jacket, I began to circulate the icy energy into the palm of my hand – Just in case. I wasn't stupid – Something could still leap out at me at any given moment, and I should maintain an escape route for me to take.

Silence of course still overcame the area, and I began to realise why I hadn't stumbled upon anyone on the way here – There was no one left to stumble upon in the first place. Considering that Hiei didn't seem bothered about the whereabouts of the others, I guessed that they'd all left before anything happened – Which made sense. With no me to worry about, they were left to their own devices.

Coming to the turn off where the trail up to the mansion was located, I slowed to a halt as I tried to think; The scent of burnt flesh still assaulted my sense of smell, making it difficult for me to think clearly. I couldn't sense anyone in that village – Nor could I see any sign of anyone from where I was standing. My gut also told me that no one lived through this, and I should make as quick a job of this as I could – While there was no one here at the moment, the lack of life here would make it very easy for anything to get the drop on me. This was cemented more securely in place in the back of my mind when I reminded myself just who was trying to track me down.

Sparing a glance down towards the charred village, I reluctantly sucked in another breath and began the treck up the trail towards the decaying mansion. I really should get this over and done with, so I can leave here as soon as I can. My fingers began to ache from the effort of maintaining my energy within the palm of my hand to form a reflection at the drop of the hat, however I chose to ignore it; The aching of my fingers wasn't anything in comparison to the missing flesh in my other wrist from the tracking device. This was also a good exercise for my demon energy, I wagered.

The scents of damp undergrowth and rotting plant-matter soon began to overcome the scent of burnt flesh, and even the overpowering scent of the ocean, which of course made my breathing a little easier and allowed me to lower my hand from my face. My ability to sense other creatures still didn't seem to work for me, however my gut seemed to be doing a much better job of doing that; At the thought that the monster still lived within the mansion I was approaching, I began to feel rather sick to the stomach, which to me told me exactly what I needed to know. It was still alive after a icy stake to the chest, and a fall into the basement – Of course, the monster probably was still alive and waiting inside. Probably still recovering from whatever injuries it had sustained.

Coming to a halt at the end of the trail, I immediately found myself standing just before the front steps of the Mansion itself. It was still a little daunting to find that I remembered this mansion from more than just my run-in with that monster. I still couldn't hear any signs of life within this nightmarish place, however I did have the feeling that I was being watched; Not surprising, considering that I expected the monster to have heard me coming, to be honest.

Looking down at my hand still maintaining an instant reflection in my palm, my gaze traced the lines of icy-blue energy that rippled along my skin like spiderweb scars. I could also see that my skin appeared to have shifted just slightly to resemble my complexion from my Demon Form. At this moment, it seemed a good idea to traverse the reflection version of this mansion; After all, no lifeforms existed on the other side, other than what the book referred to as Mirror-Dwellers. And from what I knew, there were only two of us left.

I spared a glance to the shadowed windows above the door of the mansion, to find myself spot just the tiniest glimpse of eyes staring back at me. While I didn't exactly remember too much about what the monster looked like, I was willing to wager that it most certainly remembered who it's escaped dinner was. However, the fact that it hadn't leapt out to attack me came across as a curiosity – Did it fear sunlight? Or did the sunlight of the Makai actually burn it's skin. Whatever the reason, it appeared content to just stare at me as it waited for me to act from stupidity, and walk into the darkness that was it's nest.

Of course, I wasn't that stupid. As I felt the energy in my hand solidify into what I wanted, I tossed the ball at the closed door of the mansion itself. Upon contact, the spell seemed to melt into the surface of the door as a thick sheet of ice grew across the face of the door rather quickly, leaving me to gaze at the pale blue substance with a kind of awe. As Umiko had told me yesterday, the reflection that was present across the ice was warped and jagged, however, it was a reflection enough where I could make my way through to the other side. Feeling I had wasted enough time in my thoughts, I began to approach the ice with no hesitation; In my stomach, I knew that I would pass through without question, and I felt no apprehension about it, even as I thought on the possibility that my own reflection's were going to be too warped to walk through. Finally, I was beginning to remember and become certain of what I could, and couldn't do.

I stepped through the ice like it was thin air, unlike the other times where it felt like I was forcing myself through a thick layer of gelatinous water. I didn't even bother to close my eyes this time, and just watch the way that the world in front of me just seemed to shift with a shimmer, and take the form of the realm of refection. The air didn't feel any different to the other side, either, but there was a scent of stagnet dust – Like I'd opened up an old and dusty book for the first time in years. For some reason, I found myself liking this scent. It reminded me of my peaceful life as a human, and it had me feeling greatly nostalgic.

Much like the first time I'd wandered through this side of the mirror, The world held colour like the other side, but was washed with a white hue from the opaque air, as if a white mist drenched everything within sight. However, thanks to the white mist, I could actually see ahead of me without any need for a light-source like last time. It seemed like the air itself retained light; No shadows were cast along the ground, however, silhouettes of lifeforms were a different thing altogether. I'd appeared on the inside of the mansion, the door I'd traveled through still remained shut behind me, much as I'd expected. Unlike last time I was here, where I barely noticed anything, as I made my way through the small hallway towards the foyer, I found myself noticing that the walls in this place were tiled with pieces of shiny tiles, each four inches diagonally between two corners. Each tile held the more colourful image of the two worlds and glimmered with an inviting light as I walked past. This of course had me realise that of course this whole mansion would be layed with reflective surfaces; This was a Veiku mansion, after all. Maybe that was the reason that cursed room with the glass floor was designed like that? To a Veiku, I guessed it would be logical; it made traversing between the two realms as easy as flicking a light-switch.

I found myself wandering through the Foyer, and instead of looking towards that room with the Skeleton, I chose to place my gaze upon the doorway at the top of the stairs in front of me. This version of the mansion wasn't covered in dust, cobwebs and debris, but rather appeared an immaculate state, as if this was what the mansion looked like when I was born.

And that's when it hit me; there was no flow of time on this side – At least time was at it's weakest for this mansion to be immaculate, when it's reflection was in disarray and decay. If that passage I managed to source from Dante's book was right, this place was the only one where I can succeed in removing souls.

I'd never been up on that top floor; I'd only been chased through this floor, and fallen into the basement. Maybe up there was a good place to look for answers? The basement was probably where I should go, but I wanted to at least have a look around this place, cement into memory what this place really was like. It looked beautiful while I looked at it from this side of the mirror, giving me at least some insight into what it would have been like if Maria had of been different, like Victor, I soon came to realise. He was Veiku, too, yet in all my memories of him, he didn't really look at me like Maria did. He was probably the only one that had ever thought of me with kindness in this hellish prison. My sister was the true definition of her name, and I found myself wondering if it was because of her namesake, or because she was the Veiku of the both of us. If she wasn't the one with everything, it seemed like she'd do everything in her power to get just that much more. She could never settle with second best – At least, that's what it looked like to me.

I began to make my way up those polished wood steps, my gaze tracing the ornate features of this mansion as I tried to make heads or tails of what there was here. It was entirely possible that I was wasting my time by coming here, but at the same time, I just couldn't bring myself to feel that way. I think, I needed to come back here with a clear mind, and an understanding that there was no way I could return back to my old life. It was therapudic when I looked at it that way, and I began to feel better about this whole situation.

Of course, that didn't stop me from noticing the silhouette of a large monster come barreling through the foyer like it's life depended on it. I came to a stop as I shifted my gaze to it, finding myself rather curious about the monster, now that I felt certain it couldn't see me, and most certainly couldn't get to me. The silhouette tore through the hallway I'd come through, and within a few seconds, I saw it come tearing straight back into the foyer; However by the way it moved as fast as it's legs could take it, I assumed it was just trying to figure out where it's meal had gone; And that would be me.

Deciding the monster wasn't going to pose a threat to me just yet, I placed my attention back to the rooms that stood beyond this flight of stairs. As I picked up the pace just a little, I began to notice small little paintings that were imprinted upon the reflective tiles that of course continued to line the walls up here as well. They were somewhat eerie, as if they were more than just pictures painted over the reflective tiles. However, I couldn't really think of any reason why that was.

On my way up the stairs however, my gaze fell upon one painted glass tile in particular. It had me come to a halt to investigate it closer, and while I could see that monster tear through the foyer again from the corner of my eye, I pain no attention to it.

The tile was painted with what I guessed was a special ink made from spirits; The colours bled into each other like spirit-inks would, unlike watercolours where it just blended. From the top of the painting the ink went from red, to a dark burguny, then black at the bottom where the ink was at it's thickest. The painting was that of a black rabbit with hauntingly blood-lustful eyes. There was no other marking against the mirror-like tile, other than the tiniest hints of a western numerical character on the bottom right corner; And this one was the number seven.

Once I'd gotten a grip of my thoughts again, I cast my gaze over to the other painted tiles that lined the foyer; They all were painted in the same spirit inks, with the same three colours, except the being painted was different, as was the numerical value at the bottom-right corner of each tile. I let a breath escape me as I placed my gazed back to the one that screamed 'Usagi' to me, hesitating for just a moment before I lifted a hand to touch the inks that were painted over the crystal-clear glass.

What I gained in reaction was something that I had begun to expect of late; A hot flash of white light swarmed my vision, so much so that it actually hurt. In the exact manner it would happen when someone would physically touch me, the shock of it was enough to have me miss what blurs were in amongst the painful flashes. But luckily for me, there was more than just one tile here. I'd come to the conclusion that this was the little gift that Maria had gone insane over – But for me, it was more of an inconvenience than anything else. I saw nothing, had no grip of it, and I'd get these flashes at the most inconvenient of times. But now I knew what these were, and with the firm belief that there were another seventy-eight of these tiles, I had plenty of opportunities to learn.

I shifted over to the tile with the value of 8, adorned with an ink illustration of a being that somehow reminded me of Jin, even though the illustration itself bore no resemblence to the Wind-Shinobi in the least. Taking a deep breath to try and brace myself for the shock, it was a few seconds later when I gently placed my hand against the tile.

Tile after tile ended up much the same; All shocks were so sudden that I lost most glimpses of what these flashes were supposed to show me – However, I soon became aware that they all featured crystaline trees somewhere in the small glimpses. But unfortunately for me, it felt like I'd been bludgened quite a few times with a wooden mallet once I'd reached the thirties. Not that this was an unlikely side-effect. I was taking flashes of hot, burning white light to the mind, so of course I was going to be feeling it.

Moving onto a tile with the value of fifty-three, I managed to shake my head slightly in an attempt to get me out of this exhausted stupor I'd drifted into. Ignoring the shadow of that monster as it ran straight past me for what was probably the hundredth time, I went to rest my forehead against the glass wall – Only to find myself met with a hot flash, vivid enough where I stumbled backwards into the railing of the stairs. Instead of being left with a blury after-image of something that didn't make sense, I was left speechless with the image of one of those crystaline trees I'd seen when I was in that place in my dreams – In fact, I was nearly positive that I really had been there before.

As I looked consciously at the tile that triggered the more vivid glimpse, I immediately guessed why it had happened like that – the tile was at the height where my forehead would have touched. But of course I didn't exactly want to go around this building pressing my forehead to everything that _looked _like it might contain a reaction for me.

The shadow belonging to that monster hadn't come around yet; I found myself somewhat wondering why that was. I couldn't hear anything from this side of the mirror, however I was pretty certain I should have spotted it come back down the stairs. Had it gotten bored and decided to go back to it's favorite room? I found myself doubting this thought. It was persistent, and was more than aware that I had actually _entered _the mansion. Something had to of changed.

However, I chose to push this thought to the side for the moment, looking up at the top of the stairs as I began to think. Realistically, by how this side hadn't aged, but the otherside had, this place would be intact if I came back in a year or two; Hell! If I burnt the decaying mansion down to the ground, I had the feeling that this side would still be here – After all, time seemed selective about which parts of this world it would affect. The only gauge into how time was working on the other side was the shadow of that monster – and that had disappeared for now.

Something at the back of my mind told me I was wasting too much time, and it was probably right; I wasn't sure how long I had been investigating all these tiles, but I had the feeling it was more than just a matter of ten minutes. After all, I didn't even know how long these glimpses were, either. Biting down on my bottom lip, I decided I should head down towards the basement, and have one proper look down there. After all, that was where I believed the bindings had been put in place.

My feet lead the way down the stairs, and I found myself walk through the door to the far left – opposite of the door I'd found that skeleton behind. I didn't consciously remember where a lot of the rooms were, but my feet seemed to know where to go, so of course I absorbed myself with looking around the reflective mansion. While this side was gorgeous in it's own haunting way, I was beginning to wonder what this place looked like on the other side in broad daylight. The splendor must have been quite something – But something told me that was probably more than just fifteen years ago.

I found myself beginning to descend a flight of stairs behind a door on the left wall of the second hallway, and I couldn't help but wonder if I really shouldn't have come here? While I didn't remember much about what was _done _to me, I had the feeling I probably didn't want to know. It would be wonderful if I found what I was looking for, but maybe there was a price for that?

Sucking in a breath, I immediately chose to change my thoughts on the matter. Of course there was going to be a price – But it was worth it to screw that jealous woman's plans up for her. Especially since I was condemned to die, either which way.

The steps were cold and made out of stone – And now that I looked at this place, I could immediately tell that the rest of the basement was made of stone. The room ahead of me seemed to continue forever, however that was a deception of the strange mist that saturated the air. The room stood like a cold prison, with several tall pillars set up through the area as supports for the expanse of architecture that stood above this room. While the room itself was empty, it wasn't the contents that I found myself interested in –

It was the engravings that were carved into all the stone surfaces that I _could _see.

None of the carvings made any sense to me, but of course, given my rather limited knowledge of the Veiku, this was to be expected. There was a huge circle engraved in the centre of the room, with writing I couldn't recognise circling the inner space. Lines seemed to be carved through the centre of the circle to form a strange symbol, and other lines stretched outwards from seven places along the outer circle, and towards other symbol-containing circles that of course seemed to have something to do with the first.

Just the sight of the carvings began to make it feel like something was pulling at me, as if there were many strings attached to particular parts of me, and were being tugged ever so slightly. The image seemed better suited for chains, but I couldn't pick why that was. Maybe it was something to do with my bindings – Something that I hoped to make sense of rather soon.

The steps seemed to resonate with a dull energy that didn't feel dangerous to me, however I could feel tingles shoot through my feet as I stepped onto each individual step. It wasn't uncomfortable per say – Just … familiar for some reason. Well, not for some reason, but it seemed to have me feeling nostalgic and weary. That probably was a dangerous thing in it's own way, but I didn't feel an overly forboding sensation at all.

I wasn't overly intuitive with such notions, but I'd come to understand that I really should start listening to these feeling's I'd get from time to time.

I stopped short of the carvings in the stone floor, and I was hesitant to actually step on the lines; Something told me not to. And it wasn't one of those feelings like I'd seen it happen in a movie or some kinda anime I'd watched back in my old life; It was a rather ill feeling that took root in the pit of my stomach. Deciding to go with my stomach on this, I chose to carefully step across the carvings, only touching untouched stone pieces as I made my way across. Given my intentions of coming here to see if there was anything I could make sense of, it would be stupid if I didn't at least try to see what I could from what was clearly the centre of the room.

Of course, I began to wonder if I really should be on the other side to look at what was here – But that monster had to be around here somewhere, just somewhere out of sight waiting to jump me when I crossed over.

A sudden shock shot straight through me as a form suddenly barreled into me; while I wasn't physically knocked over, cold gripped at me as a flash of burning light overcame me much like one of my contact flashes, and had practically winded me. A silhouette belonging to that monster fell through the air in front of me, it's body appearing to fall into many small and intricate pieces through the air as I managed to spot it through the burning flash to my mind; It was as if someone'd come and decided to dice it up to stop it from pulling itself back together again.

However that wasn't what had my attention now; The small ball of my icy abilities had managed to escape from my fingers while I'd been run into by that monster – It had dropped to the floor at my feet, and was now in the middle of solidifying over the actual floor. And breaking those lines beneath me.

"Crap!" I squeaked as I snapped my gaze around to the part of the ground behind me, to see that the ice was beginning to cover the lines behind me. The ice was also beginning to glow where the lines had been filled in, making me realise why these lines were _carved _and not drawn in; They were supposed to contain something, and in my stupidity I'd just done that to activate them!

My instant reaction was to run for the stairs, however something had latched onto me in the moment I tried to, holding me in place. The grip was like an invisible pair of hands closing around my throat, almost trying to drag me upwards to the ceiling; And that was when I saw it – Another acivating circle upon the ceiling, near identical to the one the ice had now covered – however this one looked quite new, as if it had been carved there a matter of weeks ago.

I tried to kick and fight against the grip that now hoisted me a few inches from the floor, however my attempts only earned me a tightening grip of my throat; So much so that I was beginning to have difficulty breathing. The tugging at me I'd been feeling since walking into this basement had never left – In fact, now it was more like someone was trying to pull pieces out of my body, and it began to hurt.

A deafening crunch echoed in my eardrums as it felt like many ribs had just been broken, and crushed to splinters; If I could scream, I probably would have, however, all I could do was manage a strangled gasp as my body seemed to go limp on me. My flickering and fading vision was still upon the activated circle upon the ceiling, where I could see the faintest of rippling energy leaving me, almost resembling a form of some kind that I felt I knew.

"_Stay awake, Onna!" _ the faintest voice echoed in the back of my screaming mind, however that was very nearly drowned out by my gagging coughs as another crunch echoed from my splintering ribs – the pain in my chest was far worse than the tight grip of my neck. _"Don't lose yourself-"_

"H-Hiei?!"I heard myself manage to gasp; another crunch echoed, this time from the crunching of a few fingers this time, which earnt another gagging cough from me.

"Oh, no no." Came a chortling voice that sounded much like my own, however I knew for a fact it wasn't. Horror took hold of me through the screaming in my body from cracking and splintering bones, so much so that I managed to open my tightly shut eyes. However I now wish I hadn't of done that. A face looking near identical to my own was smiling down at me, however her hair and eyes were both a rather delicate looking silver in contrast to my own – However I couldn't mistake the malicious grin that had spread wide as she saw that I was conscious.

"We can't have your Fire-Friend take you out of my reach now – I'll have to take you in before he breaks through your ice." Netami spoke, her pixie-like voice tinkling with a foreboding giggle as she leant down and took my face into the palms of her hands. "I've finally got you to myself, my dear little toy."

"N-No – What do you want with me?!" I managed to gasp; The grip of my throat seemed to have lessened, allowing me a little more ability to actually form a coherrent sentence.

"That's a secret~!" Netami seemed to giggle at the fear that continued to grip at my features, however she paid no real heed to that as she released my face to wrap her arms around my shoulders. "I'll tell you as soon as we're at my place – You'll love it; That fat giant will never know you're there!"

As she tightened her grip of me, I felt the invisible hands suddenly leave my throat as I felt the ever still air of this side of the mirror actually begin to swirl around as ice began to now grow over both Netami and my own body. My body trembled against both the pain and the cold that once again began to engulf my body – I was done for.

"_Onna!" _Hiei's voice echoed all of a sudden, in the back of my mind as I managed to look past Netami's form, and to the empty expanse of stone basement that lead towards the stairs. It was all I could do to spot the form that stood just a few meters away, however this one was not one of those dark silhouettes.

As I felt Netami begin to drag me through her own form of reflection, I could see that the silhouette that should have belonged to Hiei was coloured, as if his form was beginning to solidify on this side.

"_Don't do anything stupid –- I'm coming to get you." _


	73. Nostalgia

**[Authors Note]** Hey everyone! It's Jozei back again with the next instalment of The Fear Of Blood! I hope I haven't been keeping you all waiting too long with this chapter. I've been trying to get all overhanging questions answered with these chapters, and will hopefully have the next chapter written in the next few weeks. I've been doing a lot of work with the last two chapters of this story, and have only just doubled back to finish this chapter. I hope this doesn't disappoint. I do have more work on this story, but that's from another two versions of the end of this – Each actually very different, so if anyone's interested in it, please tell me about it and I might be able to have the other versions added to the end of this as an extra!

In any case, I've been chatting long enough with you! Please review if you have time – I'd really appreciate it! I'm hoping to have another chapter done up in the next two weeks. The last two chapters will be done rather quick, however, as they're mostly done. Anyways. Please enjoy!

Jozei/MuffinxXxSyndrome out!

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE: Nostalgia**_

The room was bound in a shadowed darkness that was unfamiliar, and with it a dense silence that almost felt artificial and contaminated. The room was lined with bricks made out of cold grey stone, and lined with many reflective surfaces to work much like a mirror, if it weren't for the obvious presence of water distorting the reflections as it flowed down the smooth surfacing. This water also formed an ankle-deep kind of carpet throughout the whole room, acting as a reflection in itself.

This was the room that I'd found myself waking within. Consciousness hit me as suddenly as if I'd been struck by someone's outstretched hand across my face. For the most part I was in a kind of daze, my unfocused gaze swirling over the dark, liquid floor as I tried to get a grip of my bearings. From the way I could feel my body aching, I was tied up by chains, and from the angle of the floor to me, I could also come to the understanding that I had been tied upright to a kind of pole, or stake, or anything else that would form a vertical plane for me to be chained to. The air was frigidly cold, far worse than my own magic of ice; I began to wonder how this was the case, given the flowing water I could see all around me. Perhaps the water maintained it's own temperature and resisted the natural state-shift that came with sub-zero temperatures – I had no way to decipher this from my lack of contact with the water.

Where had I ended up? I had no idea; The last I could remember was that of Netami dragging me through her own reflection, and then everything was black as soon as I'd been pulled through. My mind also felt rather hazy considering, like I was still recovering from a knock to the head, or chloroform, which really made more sense than the knock to the head. I also felt sluggish, not that the rather tight bindings helped with that.

But something about this room seemed … familiar. Nostalgic almost. Although my first thoughts were that I hadn't actually gone anywhere and I'd imagined being attacked and dragged through, my stomach told me that I certainly was somewhere else. There was no white colouration to the air around me, which told me I was on either everyone else's side, or another wedge between the two layers, but that didn't make any real sense to me at all. Victor was the one that had managed a wedge between layers, or rather, my mother had imprisoned him within one.

Just where the hell was I?

"Like it?"

If it weren't for these chains binding me to a motionless state, I really would have jumped in fright at the sound of that voice; Netami's chortling voice sounded quite like a smug prodding, however I chose not to give any indication of my thoughts; lest I end up triggering my death now.

"Like what?" I asked, feigning an attempt at trying to locate Netami's obviously present form.

"The room I built for you!" Netami's voice echoed all of a sudden, from right behind me it seemed; I could feel a strange presence making it's way towards me from behind for some reason, and had no real recourse but to assume I was beginning to sense presences for once. "You've always been surrounded by water and stone; I thought it would be something nice and nostalgic for you. Isn't that awesome?"

I bit the inside of my lip as I fought hard on not frowning in response to this; It was sickeningly obvious to me that she was being sarcastic now. She was just loving this, and I knew it.

"Where am I?"

"In your own bubble of space between reflections of course." Netami piped up, stepping out towards my left from behind, allowing me to finally spot where she was. Dressed in a little sapphire blue sleeveless vest, a white blouse and pleated grey skirt, she looked as if she were someone I'd find in the human world; but I wasn't fooled. She was playing with me, and those clothes were obviously another way she was having fun with me. "We're neither here, nor there. Just within a space I built for you."

"You know what I meant."

"Well, you've never been here, that's for certain." Netami piped up, grinning at me as my expression remained rather blank. "We're in what you call Spirit World's reflection, but the proper term for it is the Reikai."

"Reikai?" I was puzzled by this – I'd never been in the far-off reaches of Spirit World, but this reflection didn't look like anything in connection _to _spirit world.

"Yeah. That's the word." Netami spoke, crossing her arms behind her back as she stepped into the space in front of me. "Really, we're inside one of the library rooms in the Reikai – The one pertaining to time implications and the history of the Ningenkai, Reikai and Makai. Mostly unused because of the lack of required historical knowledge."

"Ningenkai?" I couldn't help but speak, however I soon realised what she meant; Human World. Really I should have already known the translation of the word, but it was just foreign to me at that moment. "Why a library about the three worlds? Wouldn't it have been better to put your base somewhere else, away from spirit world?"

"This isn't my hiding place." Netami piped up, appearing thoroughly amused at my lack of comprehension. "No, this is the location of your time-room. It's been here for many years, growing itself from within the books about time-distortion."

"Growing?"

Netami seemed to grin at my question, her expression turning rather smug as she instead motioned to the space above my head, neither speaking nor making a sound. Slowly, I followed her motioning movement upwards to the space above me as far as my head could move, where I spotted something that had my stomach suddenly begin to churn in a sickening manner. Above me were the outstretching branches belonging to a black tree made out of onyx itself, growing up from the space I'd been chained to. It was a perfect replication of that dream I had practically forgotten about, however I wasn't dreaming.

"In the fool's side of the reflection, the library hasn't been used in many years, allowing the growth of this tree from several books placed on a stool in the centre of the room." Netami piped up, grinning at my evident distress at the situation. "I recovered some of your left over blood from home years ago, growing this seed from a solution made for it. It can amplify your untouched abilities, because in reality, this tree is an extension of you."

"An extension of me _before _all of this!" I remarked bitterly, however I wasn't quite sure if the woman now standing in front of me was all that fussed either which way.

"But it still contains your blood, regardless." Netami seemed to wave off my point, causing another frown to creep over my face. "It's the connection that matters, not a perfect sample."

Her words didn't mean very much to me at that moment; I felt my gaze narrow as Netami touched her fingertips to the rippling water in front of me for just a moment, where ice began to grow from the surface.

"What are you trying to do?" I couldn't help but ask, remaining as motionless as I could as I saw the woman cast a smirk at me over her shoulder. The ice that was forming in front of us turned into a kind of icy armchair, and I couldn't help but let out an exasperated breath as I realised the woman was still toying with me. "What do you want me for?"

She seemed to smile in a rather lop-sided manner, making her rather inhuman features even more distinctive. I almost had to stop myself from flinching away from her – Now wasn't the time to let the woman know for certain that I was actually afraid of her.

"What else could I want you for? Momma turned you into a catalyst for time manipulation, so that would of course mean that I want you for that ability." Netami remarked, giggling to herself slightly as she slipped into the armchair that was sitting right in front of me, almost as if she was taunting me. Correction, she really was taunting me; I had to remember that this woman lived up to her namesake in a sickeningly close way. "That's what that fat giant want's you for, too! A way to turn himself into more of a god right from the beginning!"

"Why would the Ruler of Spirit World want me for time manipulation?" I asked, however my town was meek. Even though I'd expected it, I still couldn't stop a cold shudder from shooting down my spine as I saw a malicious grin creep across the woman's face.

"He wants to get rid of your friends permanently." Netami remarked, snuggling into her armchair as I of course remained somewhat sprawled upon the rough stone floor. "And what better way to do away with his biggest fear than to rip them right out of time itself? No one'd even know it was him that had done away with them. Especially when he kills the only people who know otherwise and claim he was too late to save everyone."

My eyes widened at this information I'd just received; I'd thought Hiei and everyone else was on the run _because _I'd been revived and had the potential to become a demi-god if I learnt how to? It wasn't _really _because I was revived with this ability, and he really just wanted to use me to have them killed or erased from existence?!

"But of course, I'm not so sure he'll be happy with just that." Netami remarked, her grin fading away to a rather irritated expression as I of course remained silent so as to not test her patience. "The Ruler of Spirit World is a power-hungry jerk, and he won't just sit with the four being erased; He'll want every troublesome being removed whenever he can't be bothered doing anything by the book. And the moment he get's what he want's from me, he'll of course snatch you right out of my hands."

"But I thought only Veiku and Ukiev could get onto this side of the mirror?"

"Oh yes. That's true." Netami commented, as if she had suddenly remembered that rather crucial fact, and was quite matter-of-fact with it. "But when that fool puts his mind to something, he'll find a way to do it; So it's better just to remove him from time altogether to be rid of the problem at hand."

"How would he manage to do it?"

"There are people who can cut their own way into dimensions; Such a person could use their overpowered abilities to carve their way through the reflections." Netami remarked, crossing her right leg over her left knee as she proceeded to run her hands through her long hair. It was as I watching this woman that I began to notice differences between the two of us; Her hair was wavy at the ends, like she spent a lot of time at the beach, and her face was narrower at the chin.

"Doesn't sound too overpowered considering the both of us can jump back and forth between these two layers." I managed to speak, shaking my head slightly as Netami seemed to blink at me for a moment. "That's being a bit hypocritical to call someone's ability to slice dimensions overpowered."

"That is true." Netami spoke, as if she found my words rather interesting at that moment. "That pathetic Human's ability is only weak in comparison to what it could be; The true overpowered ability is your own, but I'm fine with that."

"Human?" I blinked momentarily as confusion began to overcome me.

"I've never seen it myself, but the fat giant had briefly mentioned his reasons for ripping the human out of existence." Netami began, absent-mindedly lifting her wavy hair up onto her head as she began to tie a hairtie around it to obviously keep it out of her face. "There's no possible way for his people to _kill _the demon-kin; He's tried to do this while politics let him do it legally, and that backfired. So that leaves the giant the remaining ways of locking them in another dimension, locking them within a barrier much like the one that used to be around the makai, or to imprison them all within the highest security vault in the whole of spirit world. All of these ways however, can be immediately unravelled with the human's ability to cut through dimensions. It doesn't matter whether the human is left alone or imprisoned with the others; Either way, he's that all-powerful key that will unlock any dimensional door for them. Rip the human out of existence, and you have nothing to worry about."

"I can see your point. But you don't have anything to worry about..." I couldn't help but bite down on my bottom lip, closing my eyes as I let out a breath through my nose. "There's no way Kuwabara would come wandering in here."

"And why's that?"

"He and Yusuke, even Kurama … They all probably wish I'd never been with them. They won't come looking for me."

"I hope you're right." Netami piped up all of a sudden, causing me to blink in confusion. "The human probably won't know what's going on, anyway. Once I start using your abilities, he won't have any way to know what's really going on; and then I'll rip him out entirely."

Silence had descended upon the two of us, however I had the feeling that this time it wasn't intentional; Netami continued to play with her own hair as if she were as comfortable as anything here.

"You never answered me."

"About what I want from you?" Netami asked, blinking her large silver eyes as I remained silent. I was fairly certain she'd take this attempt at toying with me, if she realised she could. She seemed to fall silent for several long moments, swinging her legs slightly as she watched my pale face, as if wondering about the answer to my question herself.

Finally, after what felt like minutes, Netami seemed to decide she would tell me; She seemed to nod her head slightly as she focused her gaze upon me once again.

"There's many things that I want." Netami spoke, resting her chin upon her right hand as she leant forward to rest her elbows upon her knees, a smirk slowly creeping in place. "The self-richeous plight of paving a world for just Veiku is rather conceeded, considering that I am the only one left. Erasing a sub-breed like yourself is a pointless endeavour considering you're the last, too. No, I want to sit at the head of the three worlds, controlling everything as I see fit. Something about holding the position of high ruler of all things just appeals to me."

"Sounds stupid, if you ask me."

"Oh?" Netami remarked, straightening up slightly to fix me with a smirk. "And what would you rather instead of becoming the equivalent to royalty?"

"If I could just give you whatever ability this is and just leave unharmed, I honestly would." I answered, with no hesitation or thought, which of course caused the woman seated in front of me to blink in surprise. "I've never wanted anything big or glorious like you; I liked my human life, where all I had to worry about is a bastard of a lecturer forcing me to rewrite an essay on psychological factors in popular games."

"That mean's nothing to me." Netami remarked, confusion creeping across her face as she evidently had trouble comprehending what I had actually said.

"I have no large goals or desires; Just living the rest of my life how I want to, that'd be enough for me." I proceeded to explain, shaking my head slightly at the fact that I was stuck explaining to my selfish sister that I wanted to be left alone. "Even if I didn't do anything meaningful, I'd be happy if I'd just be left alone. Hell, even living like a hermit atop a mountain for the rest of my life even sounds rather appealing at the moment."

Netami continued to stare at me for several long moments, before she shook her head and decided to just ignore what I had just said – or so it seemed, from the look across her face that soon came to life.

"You won't have to worry about anything here."

"What?" Her words had me rather confused, and as I tried to figure out what she was meaning, she seemed to smile at me rather toothily.

"Once the last bindings are in place, you won't be here. Mentally, anyway."

"How does that even work?"

"Simple. You won't be conscious at all for anything that I do; You'll sleep for the rest of your time chained to this tree." Netami remarked, lifting herself from her icy armchair to walk towards me, her long fingers curling around the chains that ran along the front of my chest. "While I can't physically separate your soul from your body and ingest it into my own, I can at least separate the part of your soul that retains the ability of consciousness from your body. I find that'll make life easier for the both of us; I won't have to deal with your childish complaints about everything, and you don't have to wake up to this room every day."

"Sounds like you're forcing a nicety upon me." I felt my gaze narrow as Netami continued to grin up at me. "I said I wanted to live my life the way I want to; Not put to sleep permanently so you can do what you want with me!"

"But, this is the next best thing, isn't it?"

"No. It's not."

Again, silence seemed to descend upon the two of us, however Netami was still grinning toothily at me, as if there was some underlying joke that I hadn't picked up on yet.

Oh, wait. I had no choice in the matter. That was the joke...

"It's about time for you to go to sleep now. The moon and stars are in their places for manipulation." Netami spoke, glancing up at the ceiling above the tree and my head, however I had no ability to actually look that far up; The chain at my throat was actually rather tight, now that I had completely come free from that hazy, sluggish feeling I'd woken up with. It was now that Netami looked at me once again, however there were no evident expressions across the woman's face. "Time for me to start tampering with your soul."

"What?!" I managed to exclaim, before a sharp pain shot through my chest. Managing to snap my gaze downwards, I found that Netami had forced her right hand through my chest, where I could feel her fingers raking themselves against the side of my heart. It was painful, but not as much as I had expected. The wound was exactly the same as the injury I'd sustained in that cave – and I very nearly threw up.

"There it is!" Netami spoke, a grin spreading across her face as her hand fell motionless within my chest. "Sleep tight!"

Pain shot through my chest as something in my chest snapped, like Netami had just broken off one of my arteries; My vision turned black, and my body went limp against my wishes.

The scent of warm, sweet honey met my sense of smell, and as the sensations of icy cold water flowed down my body, I felt the last of my consciousness fade, along with the hand that had been inside my chest.

I had just run out of time.

* * *

The sun began to set over the horizon of the Makai, veiling the lands in golden light that slowly turned to a vivid orange. For the most part the lands were peaceful, at least for the Makai in any case. There was no scent of blood on the air, and no sounds of fighting or death in the calm breeze. There was no sign of other life, asside from two forms walking along the beach with no particular aim or goal in mind.

Yusuke slowly let out a yawn, his hands buried in the pockets of his newly acquired pants and jacket. His time in the Makai hadn't been entirely fun, but rather boring since Meia had run away. No one came looking for them, as if he was wiped clean off the wanted list. Even his run-in with one of King Enma's troops yeilded him no trouble. It was as if the soldier saw him no different from the other people living in the Makai.

While it was a pleasant surprise at the time to be completely ignored by the men who were supposed to be hunting them down, Yusuke now found himself rather disturbed by it. He was used to having Koenma's dad trying to get him killed or stay dead all the damn time since waking up as a demon. But now that this was happening, it was as if the giant was so sure that he had proper control, that he was willing to let everything work out properly.

It was this that actually began to make Yusuke nervous.

"Say, Kurama?" Yusuke spoke, for the first time since that morning; Yusuke and Kurama had both ended up just wandering around without discussing anything. Through the whole of the week that Meia had gone, the two had basically talked everything out – No topic had gone undisclosed. "Do you know why we've never been able to figure out what Meia's supposed to be?"

Kurama, who had been walking along the beach at even stride with Yusuke, lifted his gaze from the water to his right, and turned his head to look at Yusuke. His green eyes showed confusion at the out-of-the-blue question, however it was short lived. Of course the question of Meia's origins would pop up sooner or later. That was the whole reason for their time out in the Makai with no contact with anyone. Kurama was rather concerned about his human family, but nothing could be done to fix that just yet.

"It's as Koenma had explained to us before he left in pursuit of Meia." Kurama began, placing his gaze upon the water once again. "From what he had learnt from her, there are near eighty souls forced into her body and fused with her soul; With so many potent souls inside her, there was no way we could differentiate between a hare, a snake or even a Veiku. There has always been too much interference."

"So that's why we could never figure out what she was." Yusuke spoke, his tone quiet and contemplative, yet still holding the faint tone of regret he maintained through the whole conversation. "But her body is just her own, why couldn't we figure out what she could do, either?"

"Just the same – With all the potent souls, she wouldn't have had any room to grow, until we revived her and broke the bindings anyway. That would explain why it was only after-death that she actually began to develop much faster in this way." Kurama surmised, his shadowed gaze following the coastline, their evenly paced footsteps the only sounds that mingled in with the low howling of the sweeping wind through the trees. Yusuke seemed to remain silent as he thought slowly, a tense silence that both shared, given the conversation.

"You reckon she knows about it?" Yusuke asked, looking back at Kurama after a few moments.

"I doubt it; After all, we don't even know if she's still alive, for that matter." Kurama replied, burying his hands into his pockets as he lowered his gaze to the sand beneath his feet.

"But if she is alive, do you think she actually knows?" Yusuke asked again, a serious expression creeping across his face as Kurama raised his gaze to return the look. "I mean, she was acting like she was scared of us right before she disappeared – maybe she knew that Koenma wouldn't of had a choice but to order us to kill her if she decided to learn to alter time for some reason?"

"I don't believe she would have known."

"You reckon she would have gone down that way if she did?" Yusuke asked, slowing to a halt as he waited for Kurama's answer. The kitsune man came to a halt after a moment, looking at the sleeper as he thought carefully on his answer. He had spent a lot of time trying to learn all he could about the girl, as per Koenma's orders, but in reality, he knew nothing – The only person that seemed to have a solid understanding of the young girl, was actually Hiei – And he disappeared the same day she fled. It had been bugging Kurama ever since; What did Hiei know about her that he didn't? And what was happening for the fire apparition to basically vanish in the same way Meia had?

"I don't know." Kurama answered after a few moments, letting out a breath slowly as he tried to think on the question a little more. "That's a hard thing to debate, given the situation."

"I don't think she would have done anything – she was bitter all the time, yeah, but I reckon she just wanted to be left alone. If I was being chased around and practically having people want me dead, I'd just want to live like a hermit for the rest of my years."

Kurama thought on that for a few seconds, before he looked back out to the ocean. Yusuke was right, all the girl probably wanted was to go back and live in the human world – But, if she couldn't, what would she have done?

"That could be." Kurama suggested, looking back at Yusuke after a moment. "But I don't feel comfortable just assuming that, given Umiko's heritage." Yusuke raised an eyebrow at Kurama's words, letting out a breath slowly as he placed his gaze straight ahead, and continued to walk.

"You know, calling her by that name was the reason Kuwabara had a go at us before he ran off, too." Yusuke spoke, stretching slightly as he continued. "And I agree with him; I don't really think she's changed, even if her demon side's awakened, and we're going through hell because of it. She's still Meia, and probably still is that sulky little girl that refuses to touch meat with a ten-foot pole. And besides; I didn't change when I awoke again as a Demon, why should she?"

Perplexed by Yusuke's statement, Kurama found himself wondering about that. While the sleeper had a point on the matter, Kurama just couldn't shake off that feeling of disagreement. Not when all their information now pointed at the girl being a Veiku. A power as strong as Meia's was supposed to be actually belonging to a Veiku? That was something that actually sickened Kurama, to the point where he couldn't actually agree with Yusuke's rather valid point.

Yusuke was a special case; Not everyone who awakens as a demon stays the same.

"You know, Kurama-" Yusuke began, however his words were cut off all of a sudden. Kurama shifted his gaze back to Yusuke, to find that the sleeper had in fact cut his words off, and looked to be in a strange amount of pain.

"Yusuke – Is something-?" Kurama had barely managed to speak, when all of a sudden Yusuke's body vanished in the blink of an eye, as if something had suddenly teleported him away. However this really wasn't right; Yusuke's scent had also vanished, and in his place was the scent of nothingness. No scent of life existed where Yusuke had stood just seconds before.

Something was wrong.

As Kurama reached into his hair for his rose to form a rose whip, he fell motionless. His body all of a sudden felt cold, and what he could see in front of him seemed distant. Just as Kurama was about to force himself to somehow escape the cold grip, his vision all of a sudden vanished, and his consciousness left with it.

All that remained on the beach where Yusuke and Kurama stood, were two sets of footprints, and the faint residue of stolen time.


	74. Hit The Floor

**[Authors Note]**Hey Everyone! It's Jozei back with another instalment of The Fear Of Blood~! And I hope you're all happily reading, or if your just still reading, I'm real happy either which way! I spent all night writing this one, and I have to admit I'm rather proud of this one! I hope you like it! For these last chapters, I'm gonna start putting little snippets at the end of the chapters so people can get a taste for what's coming up next (Since I feel these chapters are gonna fly through real fast in comparison to saaaaayy … chapters sixty and backwards).

Now, I have two housekeeping announcements to make before we kick off the chapter; First of all, I'm sorry to all of my Down Into My Shadow Readers, but this story is being put onto Hiatus status until I finish The Fear Of Blood. Mainly because Since this story is so close to the end and I need to focus and get this finally finished! This story has been up since May 2009, and now that I've put that into writing, it's sunk in on me. I'M SO SORRY! So! As soon as The Fear Of Blood is finished, I'll be posting up some chapters for Down Into My Shadow right after.

Housekeeping two. I have a job now, and am in my own house with my boyfriend who works a full time job. My job is 5am-8am and some hours in the middle of the day on some days. That means that aside from general housekeeping (Real housekeeping for my house-house) I will be focusing on uploading more work on my stories. Therefore, I'm hoping to have a chapter written up by every second Saturday until I'm back in order. If I'm on a writing spree like I have been over the past week on one solid story, then I'll be able to post earlier. But I hope to make my submissions a lot more rigid, especially since I want to become an Author (Or Authoress, if you want to be specific about it XD)

And for the final notes, I know you probably won't do this now that I've asked, but please, if you have a second to spare, it would be awesome if anoyone would review for me. I'm happy for just a "cool" response. I'd just like to know if people are happy with the way I'm writing, ya know?

Anyways, sorry for being a pest. Onwards to the chapter!

~Jozei / MuffinxXxSyndrome Out!

* * *

_**-[The Fear Of Blood Tends To Create Fear For The Flesh – Hiei Jaganshi]-**_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR: Hit The Floor**_

Moonlight filtered down over the many odd trees and plants that lined the lands of the Makai, illuminating the landscape with a strangely comforting glow. Silence echoed throughout the lands, however. So much so that it was unnatural to the Fire-Apparition that sped through the treetops. He was quite comfortable with silence, especially since all the trouble being chained to Yusuke as a begrudging slave to Koenma. But given the fact that the stupid woman he was keeping an eye on had just been snatched up by her pursuers, there was little time for him to enjoy the abnormal silence.

Now that Meia'd been captured by her own sister no less, there was only so long until everything around him started to change. And unless that change was getting him out of the chains of Spirit World and to his own freedom, he didn't want a bar of it.

The fact that Meia'd been snatched up the way she did left a bad taste in his mouth, and not because he was just irritated about the whole scenario. Fragments of her soul had been splintered off in her struggles in escape, and it wouldn't be long before the woman figured out what she could do now that pieces were missing. For all the ways the woman was inept, Hiei had no real choice but to admit that she could be spitefully resourceful at both the best and worst of times. Soon, she was going to realise she could split her soul apart now, and that wasn't a good thing.

He told her not to do anything stupid, but of course, he knew enough about Meia to know that she wouldn't last ten minutes without doing the most stupid thing she could do. Either that, or she'd have another episodic fit and her body would turn masochistic again.

But how was Hiei supposed to get through the reflection and rescue Meia from impending doom before she did something stupid and before her sister started to change things using Meia? If travelling through reflections was as easy as Meia was beginning to make it look, Hiei would have already gotten her back by now.

Hiei's right fist ached slightly as he thought about that. The remaining ice refused to yield a way through, leaving the fire apparition both frustrated, and liable to punch something. He disliked failures, especially if they were his own. The only failure that amused him was those of Kuwabara's, providing he wasn't the one suffering from them.

Landing onto the ground from a leap outwards, Hiei then proceeded to begin a quick dash towards the east.

He needed to figure out some way to fetch Meia back – Thinking wasn't really his strong suit when it had nothing to do with slaughtering demons and brutally torturing any who infuriated him. Well, he guessed he could kill Netami if she resisted – But he very much doubted the woman would prove a satisfying kill for all the trouble he'd been dealing with of late. First things first; Hiei had to track down the intricate-thinker of people he begrudgingly associated with – Kurama.

For some reason, Hiei found himself unable to locate Kurama. There was no sign of the kitsune man, and especially no lingering energy belonging to the infuriating being at all. It wasn't as if he had gone back to the Human world; There was always a faint hint of a lingering trail if one just travelled between worlds, at least to a point where one could locate it if necessary, however now there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was as if Kurama didn't even exist!

Something about that last sentence made Hiei feel uncomfortable; Moreso than he normally would. To the point where Hiei removed the seal from his Jagan and began an in-depth search for Kurama. Given the reason's for Meia's abduction, removal from time and existence was something Hiei had to pay extra attention to. He had a feeling the woman's sister wanted to change more than just who existed where, and it wasn't uncommon for Hiei and his comrades to be targeted first of all.

Still no trace of Kurama, and none from Yusuke either. Hiei felt a familiar glare creep in place over his face as he found himself with no strong-thinkers to consult in. Not that Yusuke was good at thinking up plans, but the spirit detective was ironically good at coming up with on-the-go plans that worked. He was also a compulsory candidate for the firepower of any rescue attempts, and now he was gone.

Well that was good news, wasn't it?

Sarcasm seemed to be all Hiei could muster at that moment; He was becoming increasingly frustrated, the longer he tried to figure out what to do on his own. Again, he couldn't help but remind himself that if it weren't for the fact that Meia was basically in another dimension, he'd have already severed heads and recovered the problematic woman by now.

This was the time where something would leap at him and cut him off from his mental prattling, however the Makai was silent and motionless around his running form. Why was everything so damn quiet?!

Now that Kurama and Yusuke were both ripped out of space and time – as far as Hiei was going to think about it – Hiei was the only one left to try and get himself out of this problem.

With everything that had happened since Meia had been dragged through the first mirror and died, Hiei had long since understood that Meia's pursuers were amalgamated with Spirit World; Right through to the Liquid iron beings clad in the uniform of Spirit World's Special Forces. Taking this into consideration, it didn't take long for Hiei to also come to the conclusion that he was probably next to be ripped out of existence. Considering that King Enma was working together with Meia's sister, it was pretty obvious that there was some kind of truce. After himself, the next likely candidate to be ripped from existence was Kuwabara, if he hadn't of vanished already. Then, it would be the people that followed Yusuke.

Hiei had no choice but to scoff. This wasn't the first time King Enma had tried to be rid of Yusuke, Kurama and himself; Why didn't he realise that this was another attempt sooner? It would have saved a lot of trouble for him if he did. He probably wouldn't be scouring the Makai for any sign of help right now.

Was there any point in tracking Koenma down?

While Hiei understood that the toddler was trying to fix things in his own way, he just couldn't be bothered in dealing with the whiny brat. Not when it would take quite a while to convince the toddler that his father was partner-in-crime with Netami and had already succeeded in capturing Meia. Considering the thoughts of reluctant murder Hiei had been hearing bounce through the toddler's head last he saw him, Hiei came to the decision that contacting Koenma might not be such a good idea – at least for Meia.

Through all of Hiei's thoughts, the term Dimension kept on popping up, like his subconscious was trying to tell him something important, or that he was forgetting something that would solve all his troubles rather quickly. But he kept on trying to push it to the back of his mind; He had more pressing matters to attend to first.

So Koenma was off the list, there was no point in tracking down the Buffoon, and both Yusuke and Kurama had been ripped out of time. Hiei had a feeling he was forgetting someone, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of who that was.

A crash of thunder shot through the silent air, the only sound other than Hiei's quiet footfalls through the Makai at that moment. Or at least, Hiei thought it was thunder before he reached the top of the hill in front of him.

The bottom of the hill he was on top of had all of a sudden changed – Hiei slid to a sudden halt as he realised what it was that he was actually staring at. The ground was suddenly cut away for over a hundred meters, as if a large chunk of it had suddenly vanished; There were no craters or explanation for the missing ground. Just a giant chasm of emptiness; He couldn't even see the bottom. It was as if the whole chunk of land in front of him had been torn completely from existence; The very same residue left over where Yusuke and Kurama had vanished stained the air like a toxic smog.

Were Meia's dormant abilities really potent enough to do this much damage from another dimension?!

Another crash of thunder echoed from right above Hiei's head, however he had somewhat expected it this time; Throwing himself into a lunge towards the nearest line of trees, Hiei managed to catch the tiniest hints of flickering light just before the ground where he had been standing disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Great!" Hiei seethed, quickly retreating to the protective veil of tree-cover before he was engulfed in another strike from Meia's powers. It really did look like Netami had begun to wreck havoc with Meia's abilities.

Hiei had to reassess his current problems.

Now that the possibility of Meia being stupid and pulling her own soul apart was long since gone, Hiei had to consider other things. Now Hiei had to deal with the fact that Netami had obvious control over Meia, and the girl had clearly run out of time. He didn't want to admit that had Meia actually pulled her soul apart like she wanted, Hiei wouldn't be watching as Netami continued to rip pieces of the Makai out of existence in random attempts at catching him at that very moment.

He didn't like the fact that Meia was right about this.

In fact he really, really loathed it.

After what felt like mere minutes, the crashes of thunder that signalled another rip in existence stopped, leaving Hiei to stare out at an even larger chasm of emptiness than before. He couldn't even see the other side, and he wasn't even going to attempt to try and guess how large a chunk of the Makai that had been removed. Now that he was able to look at the damage without having to leap out of the way of another strike, he realised that he really was in trouble.

Why had Netami's barrage stopped, though? Did the woman get bored and find something else to rip out of existence? For some reason, Hiei was very doubtful of this. But he couldn't think of any reason why she would stop, until he remembered who's ability this actually was.

She wore Meia out. That had to be it, considering this was a dormant ability Netami had just been tearing the Makai apart with. He still couldn't come to grips with the amount of damage Netami had done with Meia. It really brought the reason why the girl was sought after so much into a different light. It made perfect sense for King Enma to want this power, now that Hiei knew just how effective it really could be in the right situation. If Enma had this ability when Yusuke awoke as a demon, no one would be here anymore; The King of Spirit World would have already done away with everyone, and no one would stand a chance.

"I'm running out of time." Hiei whispered, more to himself than anything else. As soon as Netami deemed that Meia was in condition enough to start tearing things apart again, Hiei was in trouble.

"Pretty strange look you're wearing there, Demon." Barked a voice all of a sudden, from right behind Hiei. Had Hiei not been preoccupied with a rather demanding train of thought, he wouldn't have even flinched, let alone be caught by surprise. However, he had. And he wasn't happy about it. "Wanna tell me why you look like you've seen a 'ghost' b'fore I cut your head from your pint-sized body?"

That did it; The term Pint-Sized had Hiei immediately turn on his heel to glare at whatever insolent fool had just threatened him, with an insult tacked on the end no less, however Hiei fell motionless as soon as he laid eyes on who was standing behind him.

Standing at a near six-feet with a muscular build was Kuwabara, however there was a lot that was wrong. Instead of the Pompadour-like hair Kuwabara usually had, his hair was tied back messily in a pony-tail at the nape of his neck. His normal, human clothes were replaced with a pair of boots, tattered brown jeans and a tattered leather jacket. However, the one feature that was wrong about Kuwabara was the fact that there was a rather strange look across his face offset with a jagged scar down the right side of his jaw. It was an expression that Hiei used to wear; A cold, battle-hardened desire to inflict bodily harm, should Hiei make one wrong move. It was an alarming contrast to the Kuwabara that Hiei was actually used to.

Hiei paused to answer the question as he noticed the faintest residue that belonged to Meia's power eminating from Kuwabara's form.

"I take it you don't recognise me." Hiei chose to ask, fighting to not tack on 'fool' to the end of his sentence – Now was not the time to return to old habits.

"No. I can't say I do." Kuwabara spoke, his cold expression narrowing into a confused glare. "Should I?"

"That depends." Hiei remarked, weighing his words carefully as he tried to gauge how much of Kuwabara had changed. While he could easily dodge whatever strike Kuwabara made against him, Hiei had the feeling that this cold version of Kuwabara who was evidently free of his self-enforced weaknesses was someone he really shouldn't test – Not when he wanted to get Meia back before Netami had a chance to return to world-destruction.

"On what?"

"Does the name 'Meia' sound familiar." At first, Hiei wasn't sure if his question held any effect, however Kuwabara eventually lowered his sword and straightened up to his full height of six feet.

"The name is familiar, but I can't recall why." Kuwabara mused as he fixed Hiei with a stern gaze, before sheething his sword after several long seconds – However Hiei noticed that his hand never left the hilt. "So does the name Netami, come to think of it."

"Hn. That saves me some trouble." Hiei grunted, burying his hands into his pockets as he fixed Kuwabara with an equally stern gaze. Now that Hiei was dealing with a Kuwabara he found to be without all the emotional baggage, he found himself rather missing the old one. It was rather ironic, given the situation.

"I'm guessing this will take a while." Kuwabara spoke after a few moments, taking a pace backwards to begin walking away. "You can explain while we walk. It's not good to hang around until the ground vanishes again."

It took a few seconds for Hiei to snap out of the stupor he'd found himself in, no thanks to Kuwabara's out-of-character responses. The whole situation felt too-alien to Hiei, and he found himself quickly becoming uncomfortable as he began to follow Kuwabara's disappearing form away from the giant chasm in the ground.

It took what felt like hours until Kuwabara decided they were far-enough from the gaping chasm, no thanks to the relentless questions Hiei was enduring the whole walk. The time-altered human paused as he seemed to pick a rather large tree to drop himself beneath, as if he was using it as a shield from areal bombardments like the chasm – which really wasn't a bad idea, considering the situation. Nightfall was well and truly settled in, veiling the forest in a near-pitch black curtain. If Hiei wasn't still thinking about how close he'd been to being torn out of time itself, he probably would be enjoying it.

"So." Kuwabara began, lifting his gaze to scrutinise Hiei's appearance for a few moments. "To cut the story short; Your two comrades have been bumped off, and I'm supposed to be some real wimpy guy with enough emotional baggage to kill me, apparently a comrade of yours too, for some reason I can't fathom. We're here in the Makai because some bastard king's using some broad and her sister to get rid of us. Does that sound about right?"

"Hn." Hiei let out a breath as he came to a halt a few meters in front of Kuwabara, and fixed him with an intense gaze. He wasn't used to how emotionally draining it was to deal with Kuwabara when he's basically a completely different person – He would much rather a hoard of blood-thirsty demons to slaughter, any day. "Putting it simply."

Kuwabara seemed to rest his head against the tree behind his head, his arms crossed over his chest as he let that sink in on him for a minute.

"You know, as stupid as all that sounds, I actually believe you." Kuwabara finally spoke, lowering his gaze to look Hiei in the eye. "That's at least an explanation as to why I woke up this morning with no memory at all."

Another breath escaped Hiei, but this time it was from relief. That was one problem crossed off his list of continually growing problems.

"So about this Meia-character. Why's the name so familiar to me?"

"Baka Onna." Hiei couldn't help but speak, burying his hands into his pockets once again – It was more of a habit to call her that. "You and the Spirit Detective dote on her a lot."

"As in a sister, right?"

"Hn." Hiei didn't really say much about that; He never paid attention to what manner Yusuke and Kuwabara viewed Meia. And it was too much trouble to so much as mention the falling out they had with her. "Her body houses many souls for time manipulation; Her sister has been using her to erase the Spirit Detective and Kurama from time."

"And from the giant hole back there, this Netami-broad just tried to do you in, too."

Hiei didn't exactly reply to that; He felt it was rather self-explanatory.

"But couldn't this Meia just not let the broad use her powers? If she's that close to you guys."

"She doesn't have a choice in the matter."

"And how does that work?" Kuwabara asked, a frown creeping across his face as he obviously tried to comprehend what Hiei was meaning.

Hiei narrowed his gaze upon Kuwabara's face, trying to put his thoughts into words that this Kuwabara would understand. The Old Kuwabara would have immediately gotten the picture and reacted with an akin outburst of over-protective outrage, but this one clearly needed convincing to actually understand the problem.

Hiei was more than certain Netami had done away with Meia's consciousness – That would explain why the woman was able to harness Meia's abilities so soon after Meia was abducted. Hiei even went so far as to consider Netami had originally intended to do just what Meia originally intended to do; Just discard the unwanted pieces of original soul instead of the foreign ones. But Hiei had gone through Meia's inner-world before, and had seen enough of Meia's actual soul to know for certain that she was too unstable for any major severing to be done. As it was, the chains that were still embedded within her soul's body were basically holding her together; A lot of work needed to be done to repairwhat damage there was to Meia's soul from what was done to her before.

No. Netami would have just made it impossible for Meia to wake up; Controlling the abilities of an unconscious being was rather simple, when one knew what to do.

"The Onna's locked inside her own body. She has no control of anything in there."

Kuwabara seemed to remain silent for several moments, before he let out a sigh.

"Like her soul's been disconnected from her body, and she's just stuck in there so her body doesn't die? Making her abilities an unlocked tool to use?"

"Hn."

"That sounds like too much trouble to deal with."

Hiei was surprised to find that he was rather disappointed that the revelation of Meia's predicament didn't trigger a normal Kuwabara reaction – But quickly reminded himself that this wasn't really Kuwabara. Just a different version.

"So, how're you gonna get the girl out of trouble?"

"Huh?" Hiei blinked momentarily as he tried to figure out where this comment had come from – Hadn't the altered human just said retrieving Meia was too much trouble to deal with?

"This Meia girl – You're gonna get her out of trouble, aren't you?"

Silence echoed between the two as Hiei refused to really give an answer. For some reason, he felt like this version of Kuwabara was actually fishing for reactions, and Hiei really didn't like it. Finally, a kind of scoff echoed from Kuwabara as he let a smug grin spread across his scarred face.

"Of course you are, Lover-Boy! Can't leave a damsel in distress – Especially one that's basically a God-device in the wrong hands!"

It took a lot for Hiei to remain silent; His eye twitched as he refrained from drawing his sword against Kuwabara, and the only thing that saved him was the knowledge that as soon as he got to Meia and had her fix everything again, thisversion of Kuwabara would be forever gone! He did not appreciate the altered-human insinuating that he held particular feelings for the stupid woman, and was suddenly quite aware that he'd be receiving a lot of flack from the human about this. However the short while it would take to get rid of him would feel like forever. Hiei felt certain of this as Kuwabara let out a hearty chuckle, loud enough where Hiei wondered if he really _should _just leave to save the trouble.

"So." Kuwabara piped up once again, dragging himself to his feet as Hiei cast him a venomous glare. "It's all good that I'm up to date, being the only remaining person other than you here. But what's the plan?"

Hiei remained silent, contenting himself with continuing to glare at the altered-human, who dusted himself off absent-mindedly without a care in the world. Another scoff escaped Kuwabara, before he smirked at Hiei.

"Right – Temperamental Silent-Treatment. Certainly rings a bell."

"Your point?"

"How're you gonna get her outta there? If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't leave my hard-earned, demon-made god-device lying around without a whole lot of protection. And a whole army to make sure the protection doesn't fail."

"I already knew that!" Hiei spat.

"So?"

Now Hiei was more than certain he wanted the old Kuwabara back – He had never been so close to slitting his throat before, even in the beginning where Kuwabara would pick a fight with him every time he was spotted. To shut the altered-human up, Hiei ended up saying the first thing that came to mind, which wasn't the best idea, given the situation.

"Koenma."

"What?" Kuwabara seemed to blink momentarily, before he realised what Hiei had actually said. "Are you off your tree?! You wanna go see the kid of the Old King that's been trying to use your girl to bump you guys off?!"

Again, Hiei had to resist the urge to slit the altered-human's throat before any more foul insinuations escaped him.

"He has connections."

"But won't that end with him trying to bump your girl off instead of saving her?"

Hiei closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep-breath. The altered-human really was having him go insane at this rate.

"Not if certain information is disregarded." Hiei ground out, opening his eyes to fix Kuwabara with a more stern kind of glare than before. "The brat can only come to particular conclusions with certain information."

"And I take it you're not gonna let the kid try and kill your girl before you've even saved her."

Once again, silence descended upon the two; Hiei inwardly hoped the altered-human had enough of mocking him for now; He really was losing his patience with the fool. It wouldn't do the current situation any good if Hiei did spill the fool's blood; He was losing allies fast.

"I suppose we'd better get going before the broad starts trying to ping you with another shot." Kuwabara spoke, stepping around Hiei to begin walking towards the North. "I dunno where the guy is, but I have a feeling he's probably this way."

Remaining silent, Hiei began to follow the altered-human north, his mind moving forward to the task of trying to locate Koenma before Netami decided to rip the toddler ruler from time, too. He was hoping it was going to be an easy task for once. And not because he wanted to save himself trouble this time.

Hiei didn't know for sure, but … he had a feeling Meia didn't have much time left.

* * *

The faint, far-off chiming of what sounded like bells echoed through the once-darkened corners of a large, stone room, lined with mirrors and water along all walls. The water that ran down the walls had slowed to a near-perfect veil, casting rippling reflections through the room. In the centre of the room, where a small island sat, was a large tree that once appeared to be made of onyx. Instead of the black stone, the tree rippled a pale, icy blue and lavender, while the leaves retained some of the original onyx colouration through the veins. Light emitted from the tree, illuminating the darkness of the room, and reflecting back upon itself many times, like a light-catching box.

With the light emitting from the abnormal tree, the room appeared more akin to the interior of a hundred-sided crystal than a room with many angled mirrors. The tree's leaves slowly emitted spheres of opalescent light, which slowly floated down to the water below.

Two forms remained motionless upon the small island, one, the silver haired Netami standing upon the edge of the island itself, and that of Meia's body. Netami remained motionless, her hands held palms together with her fingers intertwined, forehead tipped forward slightly so that her forehead rest against the knuckles of her pointing fingers.

Slowly, as the opalescent spheres began to dissipate, and the colourful light in the tree subsided gently, Netami lifted her head to gaze at the sight before her. The room, creeping into darkness held a kind of energy that had her veins tingle with excitement. As she unlinked her fingers, Netami finally placed her gaze upon the one other form that shared the space of the room with her.

Meia's body was propped up against the trunk of the now Onyx coloured stone tree, many old, and rusted chains binding her body securely to the centre of the trunk. Her body was propped up straight, aside from her arms, which were crossed over her chest, and her hands staked to the actual trunk of the tree. A large chest wound stood out in amongst the chains, and blood, though stemmed by a small layer of ice, had poured from the wound to cover a bloody trail right down to her toes and to the base of the tree itself.

The chains that held Meia were artistically bound, Netami thought, as her gaze traced the way that the chains looped over Meia's bare feet, around the trunk of the tree, then into intricately crossed sections that hid Meia's lack of clothes from immediate notice. Those articles of belongings were discarded; Only the flesh, the soul and the bindings were to remain; Any layers that were not of Meia's imprisonment would tamper with the manipulation, taint it in ways that would change the outcomes of each and every manipulation. An extract from Maria's journal in Netami's belongings illustrated this fact quite well.

Meia's hair wasn't long like it used to be; While it had no effect on time-manipulation in particular, Netami just felt the image of her sister exactly the same as when she was in the basement all those years ago, just older, was something that she preferred. The short hair was just a reminder that things had changed.

Netami didn't like change, unless she was the one to instigate it.

The time-manipulations worked – for the most part. The removal of the two beings called Yusuke and Kurama was rather easy to complete. Rather, the two were blissfully unaware that something was changing; Even when Yusuke was the first to vanish, Kurama just stood there, as if trying to figure out if he was in a daydream, or if something had actually happened. It was delightful to see the fruits of the intense labour Maria had put into building Meia's body into a viable vessel, and her soul into a catalyst. Now that Netami had done the research her desperate mother had not, she knew where exactly the woman had gone wrong.

She would not make that same mistake.

But there were things that bothered Netami … things that she needed to research upon. When it came to removing the sickening human known as Kuwabara from existence, instead of having the human vanish like the other two, the human seemed to just appear half-way across the Makai as a different version. What was even more astounding was when Netami tried to target the ever interfering fire apparition, Meia's body itself actually resisted; She convulsed violently, and while the time manipulation did strike multiple times, Meia's resisting was strong enough where the apparition could actually dodge and avoid the strikes themselves. Instead of the Apparition being removed from existence, fifty square kilometers worth of actual makai ground was removed instead, leaving a large, fluffy cloud-shaped chasm in the middle of the land itself.

Netami then chose to give up after the twelfth blast, and instead focused her attention on her first goal before Meia's energy was entirely used up for the first night of the Full-Moon Phase..

While it took the rest of Meia's energy, a fat giant called King Enma was successfully removed from existence. Netami relished in the fact that it was rather painful to the giant. He seemed to howl in agony, cursing Netami for her traitorous act. It was to be expected, of course. To remove the King of Spirit World was something that even with Time Manipulation should not happen. Considering how many countless millennia the Giant had lived, in any case. Of course, Netami held no guilt over the matter; The giant was only going to double-cross her in the end. Now Spirit World was in a panic, for they have lost both their King, and their Prince, who is Missing in Action.

However, now that action had been taken, and the fire apparition now aware that Meia's powers were in use, Netami had to figure out how she was going to draw the apparition out into the open to finally remove him from existence. But before that, Netami had to figure out how to stop Meia from having such a violent reaction to the attempt.

She stepped towards Meia's enchained form, coming to a stop just close enough where she wouldn't get blood on her new clothes. Slowly, as she observed Meia's face, she noticed that the girl's skin tone had shifted from the medium cream she had been, to a kind of white touched with the tiniest tint of a sickly grey. The unhealthy tint was contrasted dramatically with the dried blood that had escaped the corner of Meia's mouth when she convulsed against the time-manipulation on Hiei. It looked like her convulsion was strong enough to trigger some bleeding – not that it particularly bothered Netami. All that it amounted to, was the fact that the girl obviously thought well upon the two that managed to escape relatively unharmed.

But the tone to Meia's skin was a little concerning. Netami let out a faint breath as she pulled out a small, leaf green coloured glasses case from the pocket of her vest. Opening the case, Netami carefully pulled out an intricate-looking pair of glasses with the fingers of her right hand. The glass inside the frames seemed to shimmer slightly with the light that reflected upon it, showing that it wasn't normal glass that was held in the frames. As she carefully discarded the glasses case, and propped the glasses themselves on the bridge of her nose delicately, Netami placed her gaze back upon Meia's form.

Through the glasses that now began to emit a strange mist, Netami's gaze focused upon the wound that she had inflicted herself. The energy lines that were attached to Meia's heart that Netami could now see were severed, and the lines that continued to run through the rest of Meia's body were beginning to swell and turn a pale grey ever so slowly.

"That escalated dramatically." Netami remarked, blinking slightly as she stared at the lilac lines. Once those lines turned black, there was no way the girl was going to wake up again. Netami hadn't intended on letting the girl live after all her goals had been accomplished, but at the rate that the girl's lines were turning, Netami had no more than a week to get everything done. After that, if Netami didn't reattach the lines in time, the girl's body would finally reject the soul and die.

But of course, Netami couldn't be bothered in expending a whole day just to reattach three measly lifelines when she was going to kill the girl anyway.

"Oh well, that's the breaks, then." Netami let out a breath as she carefully pulled the glasses from her face, about to turn and leave the room, until something from the corner of her eye caught her attention. As she placed her gaze back upon Meia's face, she noticed that there were dried tear lines that ran down the girl's face. And not only that, but there was more beginning to leak from her closed eyes.

Netami stared in a stupor of confusion for what seemed like several long minutes, until something clicked inside her head. Realisation hit her like something snapped in the back of her head, and instead of relief at an answer, she instead felt rather horrified. It was something that had never occurred to the woman, who only knew jealousy, ambition, detest and lust as emotions she had experienced, but she did know about the way deeper emotions affected humans. What now occurred to the calculating woman was that she was in a lot of trouble, now that she knew that the girl bound before her held emotions other than fear and meek disconnection with the world around her.

"You're friendly with the stupid human – but not that meddling apparition!" A frown quickly shot across Netami's face as she closed the remaining space between herself and Meia, her sharp claws scratching small cuts into the weak skin of Meia's face as she grabbed hold to stare at the sickly girl. "What is it?! What thoughts do you hide in that mind of yours?!" Silence met Netami's demands, infuriating the woman further; She was impatient and unable to tolerate any hiccough in her long-awaited plans now! Her claws dug deeper into Meia's cheeks, however no reaction came from the girl. Netami found no answer in her own emotions, her lack of understanding veiling her comprehension of the situation, until she reminded herself that the girl fought so hard she had a convulsion attack when Netami went to rip the Fire Apparition out of existence.

"You're in love with him! That has to be it – There's no way you would have reacted that violently if you weren't!" Netami gasped, her claws slowly retracting from Meia's bleeding face, however the girl neither moved, nor came to consciousness.

That meant that any attempt at targeting the Fire Apparition would end up the same way. The girl would subconsciously fight it, and next time, she'd probably rupture her heart and trigger a cardiac arrest.

"I can't kill that bastard! Even though I cut your consciousness away, you won't let me do it using your abilities!" Netami nearly screeched, dropping Meia's face in a small tantrum to march herself away from her unresponsive sister. Now she knew for a fact she was in trouble – If she was right about Meia's emotions, then that practically guaranteed the fact that the fire apparition was at least fond of the girl – Which meant that he was not only out to rescue her, but his demon pride would also drive him to kill Netami for the simple act of attempting to kill him.

"No! Netami, stop!" She practically shouted, slapping her hands over her face and closing her eyes to try and force herself to calm down. "Yes, the dimensional key is still alive, but that _doesn't _mean they can get to you! The Giant is gone! No one else aside from Barnette and Balthesar know the catalyst is here; And they both want her and the Junior's people dead!"

Netami removed her hands from her face after several deep breaths, casting her gaze over to Meia, where there were five bleeding cuts on both sides of her face. The sight of further injury to the girl helped Netami feel better, and with one last breath, she straightened up, and reorganised her thoughts.

"Even if they finally break through, I'll be long gone, and the love-sick bitch will be dead."

Yes, they were all going to die, anyway. All Netami had to do was just focus on her own goals and let it happen.

It was inevitable.

* * *

**[Next Chapter]**

"_No freaking way!" Kuwabara exclaimed mid-stride, his head snapping from left to right as parts of Tokyo vanished right before his eyes. "That freaking Woman wants to destroy EVERYTHING!?"_

"_No -" Hiei's voice echoed in the altered-human's head, causing a faint yelp to escape him. "She's forcing him out - The Brat won't watch for long." _

"_Aww hell no!" Kuwabara shouted, throwing himself into a dash towards where he could feel that strangely familiar energy. "If we lose our ticket into Spirit World's castle, we're done!" _


End file.
